Key to success all about coming up big
The Memphis Grizzlies are not onedimensional when it comes to being sports fans. After the team’s practice session Saturday at Oracle Arena, the Grizzlies seemed to have the day’s big sporting events on their minds.
Head coach Dave Joerger likened his team’s series against the Warriors to a horse race. Swingman Vince Carter said he and his teammates know they are in for a tough fight and will have to be able to take a punch. And I don’t know if there was a big mud-wrestling event Saturday, but center Marc Gasol alluded to that sport in doping out the series that starts Sunday afternoon.
The Grizzlies practiced for about an hour, shortly after arriving in the Bay Area, and afterward, they seemed very clear on what they will face in this series, and what they will need to do.
They will need to stop the runningest and jump-shootingest team in the league from running and jump-shooting. They will need to pound the ball into their bigs, Gasol and Zach Randolph, and they will need to weather the storm of the Warriors and their fans, who can be a pain in the ear.
Carter, a 17-year veteran, talked about the importance of “not getting rattled when they make their run and their crowd gets behind them, because when their crowd gets into it, we’ve seen when they get into it, it’s loud and they get rolling and running, jumping, shooting threes.
“For us, it’s being able to take a punch and still fight back. That’s the most important thing, and that we continue to be who we are. When you get down and you’re in a deficit and it’s loud in here, how do we respond? Are we going to stick to who we are, or are we going to try to be someone we’re not?”
The Grizzlies are grizzlies, not gazelles.
“We have to pull them down to the mud and keep them there,” said Gasol, “which is not easy. They run around a lot.”
Gasol didn’t tap-dance around the issue of the Warriors’ seeming talent advantage, as a team that won 67 regular-season games and swept its firstround playoff series.
“We have to work harder than the other team,” Gasol said. “We don’t have as much talent as the other team, as far as scoring-wise. ... There’s no question the Portland Trail Blazers had more talent than we did, but we had to bring something different to the table.
“We cannot play the (Trail Blazers’) game, because they’re obviously better than us, and Golden State is kind of the same thing. If we try to shoot threes with them, it’s not going to be good for us. ... You’ve got to be very disciplined against a team like Golden State.”
The discipline, and the bouncing back, is obviously something the Grizzlies have discussed coming into the playoffs and into this series. They know the Warriors can destroy a team’s composure and will.
“You cannot get discouraged when they make tough shots, good plays,” Gasol said. “You’ve got to be consistent with what you do and trust your instincts. ... We cannot come out the way we came out the last regular-season game here. We just did not get into any offense, guys were shooting way too early on the shot clock and not great shots, and they were going right at us on the other end. You’ve got to really control the tempo of the game.”
Joerger seemed to have the Kentucky Derby on his mind.
“Especially being on the road, you don’t want this big old horse getting out in front of you,” Joerger said. “You know, like the ‘Seabiscuit’ movie. They are fast, and especially at home. We’ve seen it. We were here a couple of weeks ago where they starting hitting shots. They’re a difficult team to play from behind.
“We need to keep the game slowed down and as close as possible and put as much pressure on as many of their jump shots as we can. Getting to the foul line will be huge for us. Getting the ball to the paint, to the rim is huge for us ...”
Being huge will be huge for them. But will it be enough?