Behind 50-win season, a trusting bond between coach, players
When Mike Conley pulled down the rebound with 6.7 seconds left in overtime against the Dallas Mavericks, the Grizzlies down by one, Conley looked toward head coach Dave Joerger on the Memphis bench.
The plan had been to call time out in that situation. The Grizzlies would draw up a game-ending play. But in that split second, Joerger sized up the moment, scrapped the previous plan, and decided to trust Conley with the fate of the game.
“I think it had a lot to do with coach trusting me, trusting the situation,” said Conley. “When I got the rebound, I looked at him first and he gave me the go-ahead.”
Said Joerger: “If a different guy gets that bounce are you calling timeout? But he got it. And so he just turned on the jets. The other thing was, a lot of guys pull up and settle for jumpers in that situation and try to be a hero, but the right play and the smart play is the play he made, which is to try to go all the way to the basket and draw contact.”
Conley drew contact, of course. He hit two free throws to win the game and send the Grizzlies into the playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Thursday, Joerger was rewarded for that and other victories when he was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for the second time.
But if you want to know what really happened this season — how Joerger and the team survived a dreadful start and debilitating injuries to win 50 games and the No. 7 seed in the West — all you have to do is understand what happened in that single overtime play against the Mavs. Joerger trusted his players. The players trusted Joerger. Multiply that by 82 games, and you have 2013-14.
“For him to handle all those things and keep the team together, that’s a tribute to him but it’s also a tribute to the guys in the locker room,” said Grizzlies assistant Duane Ticknor. “They hung together, they stuck behind Dave the whole way. It could have torn us apart real easy, because they had a reason to pull apart.”
Losing was one reason. The Grizzlies started 10-15. The offseason coaching change was another reason. The players could have pinned the losses on the absence of Lionel Hollins and taken the year off.
As for Joerger, he had some low moments. He confesses that now.
“There were a couple tough ones,” he said. “(Losing to) Chicago at home was tough. Because you know you’re going to pay for it. We look back now and say they’re bad losses. I knew then. There was more than one low.”
There was the responsibil-
ity, too, to try and keep the franchise’s remarkable playoff run alive. You know that feeling that is in the air now, the palpable sense of joy and excitement just because the Griz are in the playoffs? Well, Joerger has felt that, too. He has lived in Memphis the past six years. He knows how important the Grizzlies have become to this town.
“I’ve been here for six years and I feel a huge responsibility to the community because we care,” he said. “The love affair that is the Tigers, the Grizzlies and Memphis ... there’s no amount of scrutiny by the media or the national media that is more than my responsibility to do my best for the people who hired me and for this community.”
Gradually, Joerger and the players figured it all out. Joerger pulled back on some of the new things he was doing. James Johnson and Courtney Lee were added to the mix. Conley and Zach Randolph got rolling the way they can. Joerger figured how to boost Nick Calathes’ confidence and game.
Oh, and then Marc Gasol came back from injury. Funny how much that helped. Since that 10-15 start, the Grizzlies are 40-17. They have set a franchise record with 14 consecutive wins at home.
“It was a tough situation coming in, a team that went to the Western Conference finals last year, expectations through the roof, dealing with injuries,” said Mike Miller. “You put all that stuff in a pot and you spin it around and you come out and you’re a 50-win team? You’ve got to give him a lot of credit for what he’s done.”
Which doesn’t mean people can’t continue to debate Joerger’s rotations, of course. People debated Hollins’ rotations all the time. You want to rip Joerger for not playing Johnson? People once ripped Hollins for not playing Tony Allen. But when you win enough games, the W’s — and the coach of the month awards that tend to go with them — become all the response you need.
Still, it was remarkable to see what Joerger did after the win over the Mavericks. He walked out of the media room and straight to the Lexus Lounge, where radio host Gary Darby was doing the postgame show. Joerger isn’t a regular part of the postgame show. The Grizzlies pipe in his remarks from the media room. But this time, Joerger wanted to thank Darby personally.
It turns out Joerger listens to the postgame show at times, as he drives home to Millington. Af- ter losses, especially, postgame shows can be brutal affairs.
“I don’t always listen, but when I do I hear Gary defending me and everyone else to the hilt about why I don’t play someone or whatever,” said Joerger. “I wanted to thank him for his loyalty, not to me, but to the Grizzlies. Also, I think there’s a lot of people that listen on the radio and watch on TV that may or may not get to a game but once a year, but they’re passionate, and they care, and it’s OK to disagree with me or our players in how they play or what they do, because at the end of the day, we’re all in it for the Griz.”
So feel free to holler whatever you want at the head coach throughout the playoffs. If you call in the postgame show after a home game, he may even hear what you have to say. But after 50 Griz wins it might be time to listen to the perspective of the players on the subject of their coach.
They trust they are in highly capable hands. To reach Geoff Calkins, call 901-5292364 or e-mail calkins@commercialappeal.com.