Grizz (Pre)Season is Back!!

Posted on October 7, 2015 by Elizabeth Smith

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Last night our Memphis Grizzlies took on the Houston Rockets in preseason action. There was finally Grizzlies basketball in The Grindhouse! The team gave us a small preview of the coming season.

Memphis/Rockets Tip-Off 10-6-15

1^st Quarter Highlights: Mike Conley made a driving reverse lay-up at 10:42 left in the 1^st quarter for the Grizzlies first basket of the game. Jeff Green hit the first 3 of the season at 7:01. Marc Gasol got his second foul at 6:18 left in the first. Dwight Howard proceeded to miss (surprise, surprise) both free throws. When Matt Barnes checked into the game with 4:54 left in the first quarter, he received a warm welcome from GrizzNation in attendance. Brandan Wright made two free throws, his first baskets as a Grizzly, at 3:08. Houston was forced into a Shot Clock Violation at 2:16. As my friend Paul stated, we are now officially back in business. The Grindfather, Tony Allen, then proceeds to hit a jump shot at 2:01 followed by a 3 (yep, a 3!) at 1:25. The 1^st quarter ends with the Grizz up 31-20 on the Rockets.

2^nd Quarter Highlights: Conley had three bad passes in the beginning of the 2^nd quarter. Were there really any other highlights in this quarter? It felt to me like the worst quarter of the game. My notes on this quarter? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy (and Coach Joerger mentioned the same in post game). 9 turnovers became 10 Rockets points. Grizz shot 20% to Houston’s 37.9%. Capping off the ridiculous 2^nd quarter was a Patrick Beverly 3 at the buzzer to put Houston up 48-43.

3^rd Quarter Highlights: The era of Russdiculous begins now. Vince Carter finally makes a shot on the first possession at 11:42. Carter lobs to Wright for an alley-oop dunk at 9:17, leading some of us to relive that Dallas connection they had. We won’t discuss that Carter rim check at 6:16. In fact, let’s forget it ever happened. Russ Smith played the whole 3^rd quarter, surprisingly going only 2/5 from the field. However, Russ really attacked the basket, going 6/7 from the charity stripe. Brandon Wright went 3/3 for 6 points. The 3^rd ends with the Grizzlies up 73-65, winning the quarter 30-17.

4^th Quarter Highlights: I like to call the 4^th ‘Russ Smith and those other guys’. The Grizz committed 7 turnovers for 8 Rockets points. They shot 28.6% but made 9/10 free throws and pulled 8 rebounds. Not a whole lot else to say besides the Grizzlies come away from the first preseason game with a 92-89 win.

Impressions: Russ Smith is looking to give Beno Udrih a run for his money for the backup PG spot. The man is stuck on 100 for better or worse. Brandan Wright is so fun to watch. The athleticism he brings to the team is so refreshing. Courtney Lee had a quietly good night. Lee went 4/6 for 11 points with 2/4 3’s. Jeff Green honestly played pretty well in his time. He is the only starter that played any in the 2^nd half and ended up with 11 points and 7 rebounds on the night. Matt Barnes had a pretty disappointing first night as a Grizz. In 11:06 he went 0/4 with 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers. Once he gets his feet under him, I believe he’ll fit right in here. Vince Carter, I’m still rooting for you despite popular opinion. I really like what I see in JaMychal Green despite only 2 points in 16:02. His hustle allowed him to get 7 rebounds and 3 assists, which helped to offset the 1/4 shooting. Yes, folks young and old alike still go into a frenzy over any chance to catch a shirt from a Grizz cannon or sling-shot. The announced attendance of 12,826 was below the actual attendance judging from my eye-test, but the Grizz regardless got a warm welcome from the fans hungry for actual Grizzlies basketball. Conditioning looked to be an issue, with certain players looking not-quite-in-game-shape as Coach Joerger mentioned pregame.

Post Game: Joerger said postgame that he thought the defensive effort in the 1^st half was good. He was also pleased with what JaMychal Green and Brandan Wright bring to the team and likes the energy Matt Barnes brings. He wouldn’t commit to naming a starting lineup but did praise Courtney Lee as having an effective game. Joerger admitted that they needed to look at the tape and get better on multiple things before Thursday’s game. He’s looking forward to playing cleaner, cutting down on turnovers, being able to get the defense set, and cutting down on dribbling too much. Marc Gasol discussed the fact that to him, the games are easier than the team’s practices. Tony Allen echoed Gasol’s comment about the brutal team practices where they have been beating up on each other all week so it was good to play another team. Allen wants to focus on playing hard on the defensive end, executing offensively, and building team camaraderie. He also spoke about how good it was to see the athleticism in the team now. Allen gave a shout-out to GrizzNation for being into the game even though the crowd was more sparse than usual. Brandon Wright spoke on being pleased with the chemistry of the team even though they are still learning each other. Wright also mentioned being comfortable with Vince having played with him before. Mike Conley talked about how exciting it was to play someone else in practice. He also took a lot of responsibility for the missed lob attempt to Wright and talked about them just having to learn each other.

A Look Ahead to PreSeason Game #2: Tomorrow the Grizzlies take on Maccabi Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Super League at FedEx Forum at 7pm. Maccabi Haifa is one of the oldest basketball clubs in Israel. In the 2014-15 season they finished with a 17-16 record. If this is anything like the preseason game against Flamengo Brazil last season, we should see a lot of our younger players and unguaranteed contract guys. I look to see the team give Russ Smith a lot of run as well as JaMychal Green. Hopefully Jarnell Stokes will feel up to par and get some playing time. This is a great game for the unguaranteed guys to show their best and let other teams to get a look at them as well. Remember the game is not televised, so be sure to tune in to Eric Hasseltine on the call on 92.9 ESPN or listen on the Grizzlies App.