Terrific. No Tony Allen? This is one reason I wanted the Grizzlies over the Thunder in Round 1. Memphis cannot stay healthy.
It sucks that tony got injured, but it actually isn't that hurtful to the team. Wayne Selden actually played Kawhi extremely hard and the dude is an absolute hawk on the defensive end. The grizzlies have also been playing Andrew Harrison (who is good defensively, and a guy that can take the pressure off of Mike running the team), James Ennis who has been pretty good all year on defense, and Daniels for his 3 point shooting. This could be a blessing in disguise.
Listen, I'm not saying any of these guys are Tony Allen. Nobody is Tony Allen. Tony is a top 5 perimeter defender all time. I'm just saying that we have guys on the team that are strong defenders in their own right. We have a ballhandler/defender = Harrison, we have a 3 point specialist - Daniels, we have a 3 and d guy in Wayne Selden and we have the athletic beast = ennis. All of the depth on the team is at that wing position
Tony Allen played FIVE minutes in the last game of the season in a meaningless game and got hurt. Exactly why I was saying the Rockets needed to sit Harden the last game. $hit can happen. Why risk it!!
The story with Memphis is like the story every team not the warriors - not enough talent, not a big market to attract that talent, doesn't carry the nba ref bias like the blessed teams. But seriously man, the grizzlies have done more with the talent they have had than the rockets have done with all the free agent picks they get every year. So let's not get ahead of ourselves. The rockets have won 1 series that was noteworthy: the clippers. While you have won exactly 2 games in 10 tries from the warriors. The grizzlies won 2 games in 6 tries, and Conley had a broken face, Tony got injured. You lost to the Portland Trailblazers and OKC, in the first round. By contrast, the grizzlies: despite losing rudy gay: beat the spurs, being an 8th seed. The nba was so worried that they would knock out okc in the 1st round that they suspended Zbo Randolph for game 7 of that series, and they had to deal with the headline: Mr. Unreliable. The grizzlies make the clippers their b**** every year. The rockets aren't on the grizzlies level at all, until they can prove that they can beat somebody when a team locks down on defense. The James Harden show folds every time.
The Spurs in 6, relatively tough games. I think the Spurs out-talent the Grizzlies, but struggle in a defensive slugfest. Memphis may even get couple of wins in San Antonio.
That's a nice story but in the end it's still the same for Grizzlies. Not enough offensive firepower.
That's the biggest problem with the grizzlies, they have never been healthy going into a playoff series. The only year they were relatively healthy was the year that John Hollinger and that dumb ass Jason Levien (the general manger for the grizzlies after pera bought the team) just couldn't wait to break up the team and traded: Rudy Gay, for Ed freakin Davis and Calderon (who was then traded for Prince). Then he trades: Wayne Ellington, Marresse Spieghts, a #1 pick and Josh Shelby for John Leuer. John FREAKING LEUER In fact the grizzlies never had an issue with scorer until that trade. That was the year that Pop decided not to guard Tony Allen at all. This was a team mind you that not only went to the finals that year but also (though they were swept) played two overtime games, and was called the closest sweep in nba history. Just think if we would have had Spieghts, Ellington and Rudy, instead of soft Leuer and Ed freakin Davis. The grizzlies might go down as an afterthought in the nba record books, but they have come about as close to winning it all as you can, even after they have had to endue stupid trades, the nba bias, injuries almost every year. All I am saying, respect the grizzlies.
This is one of the only times where I will be cheering for your team @what. These scrubs better not let me down.
