The Grizz have played the third easiest schedule in the West, and have only won four games against teams with winning records. They are off to a good start. But, the schedule will get harder and the injuries haven't really started yet.
lol, it's actually the 5th easiest, but let's not split hairs. But even that is fake news, to a certain degree. Because the grizzlies have played phoenix twice and atlanta once, which brings down their average significantly. The grizzlies' SOS is 15th overall right now, even with those 3 games against the bottom dweller hawks and suns. Strength of schedule means ziltch right now. Convince me again tha beating the spurs at the spurs isn't as good as beating the pistons, lol. The rockets have exactly 1 quality win against the nuggets. If anything the rockets are loading up against the ducks in the eastern conference. The rockets beat the warriors without steph, the same team that has lost 4 in a row. lol Come on man. Quite spreading fake news. A 7-10 dallas team is better than any team in the east not named the bucks, raptors or 6ers.
Unlike you, I'm not trying to use spin to prove anything. If anyone is guilty of spreading fake news, it is you. All I did was give you cold hard facts. And I didn't say one thing about the Rockets. Although, the Rockets do have wins against seven teams with winning records. But, spin all you want if that makes you feel better. http://www.playoffstatus.com/nba/westernsospg.html#sflx
So if I deep dive into the numbers I'm weaving a tale? Come on man. Everyone knows that the lakers at the beginning of the season weren't nearly as good as they are now with more games and Tyson chandler. The same with golden state. When you guys faced Denver they had lost 3 in a row. When the grizzlies beat them, they had only lost 1 game all season. That's not spin that's just a fact. The bucks are blowing people out at home, and the grizzlies are the only team to beat them there. The grizzlies wins are far more quality than the rockets wins are. Face it. The grizzlies played dallas when they had won 4 straight. In that game, the grizzlies were on a back2back, 4 games in 6 nights. Come on mane.
I think your 60th game will tell us a tremendous amount about your health and your playoff situation this season.
I think that's true for everybody. Don't think that Harden can't go down with an injury. He already has. Or than the greek freak can't either. Mike Conley played 1 week after having reconstructed facial surgery. The guy will play through anything. The only reason he didn't come back last year was that the grizzlies went on a huge losing streak, the coach got fired and the grizzlies tanked. Mike, despite the rumor, is no more injury prone than the next guy. The 2014-15 playoffs hurt the most because it was a freak accident and the grizzlies were hitting on all cylinders that year. They beat Portland 4-1 and had the warriors down 2-1. I truly believe that that was the grizzlies best year, until this year.
The numbers are clear. The Grizzlies are showing the world they are on (even above) the Warriors' level.
What I won't ignore about the Grizzlies is Jaren Jackson Jr, who was my choice (prior to the lottery) for best player in the draft. He won't win ROY, but within 3-4 years, I believe he will be the consensus best player from 2018.
Probably top 5 but he won't post impressive enough stats to have a chance of winning. Unless something weird happens, it's either Luka or Ayton.
Luka will win it and he deserves to win it. I really like Jaren and I think he has a ton of potential, but this draft is really strong. Don't forget about that dude Wendell Carter Jr. The guy is not the flashiest player, but he gets it done. Ayton is a beast, but for some reason I don't see him as a Tim Duncan more than a Boogie Cousins. I remember back in the day when you drafted a center like him: Patrick, David, Hakeem, Ralph, Shaq, your team instantly became a contender. This guy just isn't a transformational player in my opinion.
Hardens numbers in the playoffs are nearly identical to his regular season stats also the rest of your argument is extremely confusing. You’re saying they are stars but they arent stars? If harden and juror aren’t stars than who are? Is Conley at the same tier as CP3 now? Is Lebron the only star in the NBA, or is even he standing in the shadow of Marc Gasol? Let’s be serious here. All due respect to the grizzlies, Conley and Gasol are incredible players. But right now, they are B level players. Personally I think Conley is one of the most underrated players in the league and injuries really held him back. And without injuries then yes I think he’d be a top 5 PG. But he isn’t. Sometimes he plays like one. But at the end of the day he isn’t. Same can be said with Gasol. Memphis has had many players come through who are very good, but either aren’t given time to adjust, their system doesn’t work with the players play style, or they just simply don’t pan out.
Harden chokes. He does. Just face it. He doesn't play defense and he turns the ball over. A lot. Getting the ball out of his hands in the playoffs was the best thing Morey could have done. Although, by NBA standards, and the letter of the law, Harden is indeed a star, but one that isn't very effective in the playoffs. And that's the crux of the issue for me. Basically your (or anybody's) evaluation that says that harden is a star is based solely on the numbers he puts up, regardless of the results that he has on the court. And this is were Mike Conley shines: beating teams with far more so-called talent, but doing it by scoring 22 points rather than what harden does which is scoring 40, but turns the ball over in winning time or settling for a bad 3 and losing the game. My evaluation of a star is a player that gets it done when it counts the most. Harden doesn't. The grizzlies had Tyreke last year scoring over 20 a game and they win 22 games that year. With Mike, they already have over half that amount. Tyreke, like harden, is a choker. There were countless times that he'd score 25 and dog the last 5 minutes of a game. With the tyreke-less grizz, There is a reason that they win most games that are decided by 5 or less, it's because Mike and Marc don't choke. Period. So yeah, they are B-players. But they will tear out your soul if you give them a chance. They won't choke. Which is my point. Carry on.
No disrespect to Conley or the Griz but their injury history has prevented them from playing a 7 game series against the most elite teams deep in the playoffs. It's one thing to call Harden a choker but he is "choking" against championship caliber teams in a 7 game series where elite defenses are keying on him. He has definitely had his share of bad playoff games but to call him a choker completely disrespects the quality of opponent he has 'choked' with - they have lost to the most dominant team in NBA history 3 of the last 4 years. Let's not go overboard with Conley though - there is no regular season equivalent to playing the Warriors or other legit title contenders in a 7 game series deep in the playoffs. It's really easy to say Gasol & Conley don't choke considering injuries have prevented them from proving your statement. You may very well be right, but its just not really an argument until Conley actually does it on the biggest stage.
He has come a far way, well, he had some very good moments and lowlights in the playoffs. Lowlights being the Finals with OKC against Miami. He was too young and completely disappeared after being phenomenal in the previous rounds. And the one 2nd round I guess against the Spurs when Kawhi was out and JH had a so called concussion. And he also did not do much as the Rox played an injury prone CP3 led Clips team and when the bench staged a comeback. Some of the highlights: He had a relatively good playoff run last year. He had very good moments in 1st round exits.
