Grizzlies

Shaken, and stirring, too.

So the David Fizdale era got off to a wildly entertaining start at FedExForum on Wednesday night and a wildly improbable start, too.

The Grizzlies were missing Chandler Parsons, Tony Allen, Brandon Wright and Jarell Martin with injures. They seemed to be in perfect late-last season form.

So Fizdale started Andrew Harrison, Ennis and Green, two second-round draft pics and an undrafted free agent.

Asked what he expected from his players, Fizdale said: “Energy, efficiency, defense . ... I have total confidence in them to come out and compete at a high level. I think my wings are going to be up for the challenge.”

Which sounded great, right?

And then the game started. And then some of us lost confidence.

The Grizzlies trailed 9-0 by the time Grizz (the mascot) did his hoist-a-baby-bear-cub-in-the-air trick to signal a new year.

They trailed 20-3 when Fizdale took his second timeout. Which is when an astonishing thing happened, the first of many surprises on this night.

The Grizzlies started hitting 3’s.

That’s right, 3’s. You may not know this, if you’re a Grizzlies fan, but the NBA awards an extra point on baskets that are shot from long distances. Fizdale must have discovered this exotic strategy in Miami. He put it to good use Wednesday night.

The Grizzlies hit six 3pointers in the first quarter, after averaging just 6.1 a game all last year. In this way, they hoisted themselves back into the game and trailed by just nine points at the half.

Still, it didn’t look like the Grizzlies could actually win the thing. Not with the injuries and everything else.

But then came the third quarter, and then came Ennis and Green flinging themselves around the court, and suddenly, it felt like a surreal sort of Memphis happening.

It is impossible to say how this basketball season will turn out, of course. So much depends on injuries. Parsons really does have to get healthy if the Grizzlies have a chance to be really good. Allen really does have to get well. Wright and Martin would help out the bigman rotation. The Grizzlies can’t survive with no depth.

But for one night, the Grizzlies mustered enough to beat the Timberwolves. Some of this was because of that old standby, grit and grind.

Take one play. With 1:37 left, Harrison went to the line, the Grizzlies trailing 93-91. Harrison made the first foul shot. Then he missed the second. Whereupon Green flew in to tip home the rebound. When Andrew Wiggins missed two foul shots at the other end, all that was left was for old friends Gasol and Conley to do their thing.

Sure enough, they did. Two pick-and-rolls. The first produced a jumper by Gasol. The second a jumper by Conley. All that was left was for Randolph to retrieve the game ball — another Z-Bound — and give it to his new coach.

So now it is off to New York for the next of 82 games. The Grizzlies will have to play better as the year unfurls. But say this for the 2016-2017 season: It started not just with a bang, but with a Fizz.