Short-handed Grizzlies almost too much to bear
Raps struggle against young Memphis lineup
TORONTO — It wasn’t exactly the best way to thank fans for 100 consecutive sellouts — at least it wasn’t for much of the night — but it could have been worse.
The Toronto Raptors could have been their Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment brethren out in Calgary, where the NHL’s Leafs dug themselves into an early hole which they were unable to get out of.
The Raptors tried their damnedest to give this one away, too, to an injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies lineup that had just nine healthy bodies and very little in the way of experienced options, but caught fire late and wound up with an easier-than-it-appeared 120-105 win.
Memphis came in with just nine players capable of taking the floor. Among the missing were Mike Conley, Chandler Parsons, Zach Randolph and Vince Carter, but the remaining nine were more than enough trouble for the Raptors on this night.
It began with a first half that saw the Raptors unaware they had to take care of the basketball at all and subsequently turned it over 11 times in as sloppy a half as the Raps have played this season.
It also ensured the Raptors headed to the locker-room down by two points and almost unquestionably in for an earful from head coach Dwane Casey.
They wound up with a season-high 20 turnovers, leading to 18 points.
Memphis head coach David Fizdale, in his first year as top dog after years as Erik Spoelstra’s assistant in Miami, refused to let the mounting injuries on his team be an excuse.
“Hey man, it’s the NBA,” Fizdale said before the game. “No problem. We got to get after it. I see nothing but opportunity and I preach that to our guys. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. Next man up and trust that next guy to do his job.”
Fizdale not only preached it, his mostly young players lived it.
Veteran centre Marc Gasol and 13-year vet Tony Allen were there to keep the youngsters on task and for the better part of the first three quarters had the Raptors at least mildly concerned.
It wasn’t until the final minutes of the third, when Toronto started to pull away, taking a seven-point lead into the final quarter, that this one felt even remotely safe.
Even then the Grizzlies had one more run in them, getting it down to one with nine minutes to go.
A timeout then by what we can only assume was a thoroughly disgusted Casey righted the ship one more time and the Raptors never looked back, coasting to the win.
Give the Grizzlies credit. They used shutdown defensive wizard Allen on DeMar DeRozan most of the night and even when DeRozan was able to shake Allen, which he did a handful of times, the young Grizzlies made things very difficult for Toronto’s leading scorer.
DeRozan still wound up with 24 points, six assists and nine rebounds on the night.
Kyle Lowry had his hands full, too, with Conley’s replacement in Andrew Harrison, who finished with a team-high 21 points.
Lowry, though, loves a challenge and answered in kind with 29 of his own, including four three-pointers, picking up on that team-record 6-for-6 performance from distance Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Saving the Raptors from a loss was a stellar performance by the Raptors’ bench, despite a down night from Terrence Ross, the guy who usually leads that group in scoring.
Ross was off all night, hitting just one of his five attempts from beyond the arc, but was more than picked up by the duo of Cory Joseph and Patrick Patterson, who combined for 30 points to offset Memphis’ lone scoring threat from the depleted bench in Troy Daniels, who had 19.