I respect O.J. Mayo for being ticked off and caring enough to get on people. Rudy Gay, on the other hand, I don't know. There may be more to the story. I've felt since early/mid last season that Mayo was the future of that franchise more than Gay. Not sure if Mayo will ever be a franchise-player/superstar, but I know Gay won't be. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/nov/01/anthony-leads-nuggets-past-memphis-grizzlies-and-m/ DENVER — The scoreboard wasn’t all that provided fireworks in what turned out to be a shootout Sunday night between the Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets. The Grizzlies had to douse an explosive shouting match between O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay on their bench before the end of a 133-123 loss in a wildly entertaining affair at the Pepsi Center. Mayo tossed in a career-high 40 points only to have the performance overshadowed by Nuggets’ forward Carmelo Anthony’s 42-point outburst, and somewhat marred by an incident during a late fourth-quarter timeout. Denver kept Memphis at arms length in the fourth quarter, never allowing the Griz to get closer than five points. Gay took exception when Mayo made a strong comment about his teammates not getting back on defense. Griz coach Lionel Hollins grabbed Gay and players also intervened to separate the pair. All parties downplayed the fiery scene after the Griz fell to 1-2 on the season. “I told them to shut up so we can get on with the rest of the game,” Hollins said. “It’s not about you. It’s about us trying to win a game. We can’t stand here with you guys going back and forth. It was a heat-of-the-moment incident. They get along. They’re just competitors. They both want to succeed.” Mayo thought the Griz still had a chance to win if they could just stop trading baskets. “We’re both competitors. We just felt that defensively we weren’t communicating,” Mayo said. “Our energy was going down and we said some things. But we got it situated, and continued to play the game.” Gay said the incident was “nothing” and his hope is that people won’t blow it out of proportion because of rumors he didn’t get along with Mayo from last season. “It’s not what people think it was,” Gay said. “Me and O.J. were together all summer. We’re fine.” Take away the Grizzlies’ opening-night debacle and their offense seems as healthy as ever. All five of the Grizzlies' starters scored in double figures. Marc Gasol had 20 points and Gay chipped in 18 for the Griz, who finished with 27 assists. The equal-opportunity Grizzlies found a different hot hand offensively with Mayo making 17-of-25 shots. Mayo’s previous career high was 33 points. It was also the fifth time in Mayo’s brief NBA career that he finished a game without a turnover. “I’m not happy because I felt like we played well enough to win the game,” Mayo said. “It just got to the point where we were trading buckets. We didn’t get enough stops.” Neither team played locked-down defense. Both squads were equally porous as the combined 57 fast-break points proved. The Griz shot 58 percent while the Nuggets excelled at a 55-percent clip. Anthony was too much to handle. The Griz trailed 67-66 at halftime and then Anthony scored 14 points in the quarter as the Nuggets built a 98-85 lead. Anthony used deft shooting and strong drives to the basket to punish the Griz and keep their starters in foul trouble. “I’m just trying to get wins,” Anthony said. “My confidence is up and I got one thing in mind, which is that gold ball (championship trophy).” Hollins said his team had no reason to hang its head. The Griz kept battling and made the score 118-113 after Gasol’s two free throws with 4:16 left. It was Anthony that answered right away with a 14-footer. “If we continue with that energy and effort, and shore up some other areas, we’ll be fine,” Hollins said. “Denver knew that they had to put out and they did. I was happy about the way we competed. We just lost to a good team; a better team. Denver showed why it made the Western Conference Finals last season.” The Griz started fast, connecting on 11 of their first 12 shots. They shot 77 percent in the first quarter and led by as many as 11 in the period.
I respect Mayo for getting on his teammates about getting back on defense. It reminds of of when Joakim Noah first got to the Bulls. He was a winner his whole life from high school to Florida. When he got to the Bulls he was playing behind an unmotivated Ben Wallace and had to endure a back court of Ben Wallace and Kirk Hinrich. He basically told the team hes sick of their attitude and got into a fight with Ben Wallace. Now the team is back to its winning ways and he's a big part of it. I think its just new players coming in who are used to winning trying to mesh with players who are used to losing. In this case Rudy Gay. UConn wasn't that great with him, and now the Grizzlies have never been good with him. I see Mayo trying to change that.
Memphis does need a <i>glue guy</i> at the 3 because Mayo isn't big enough to swap and guard a player like Carmelo that Rudy is struggling to contain. The Rockets often have enough size on the floor at both the 2 and the 3 that swapping & adjusting is easier to do than it would be for Memphis.
It's great to see Mayo get on guys for dogging it. This was kind of bad timing though, as Gay's extension deadline is coming up soon and this sheds a bad light on Gay. In fact it justifies Memphis not giving him the extension he's seeking (5 years for 50 mil, a bargain compared to Aldridge and Bargnani), so I understand why Gay got so sensitive about it.
This is what you want to see from your young guys, especially when they are on a losing basketball team. You don't have to separate anyone, the right coach can handle the situation. Memphis is a playoff team right now (yup, said it) if they had strong coaching.
Mayo, Gay and Gasol are nice pieces to build around. Conley, Thabeet, Arthur, Randolph, even Iverson (at this stage) are garbage.
Not much of news imo - put a group of people in a competitive sports environment and eventually two of them are going to have an argument. Original poster bolded "interesting" parts but failed to bold the following parts in the article: Seems there's no need to overreact and sensationalize the piece.
I feel the same. I would have a problem if guys act like the didn't care. If they had a good coach, they would be a playoffs team. Conley has been better, gay,mayo,and gasol are good and yound, and when his head is on right, randoplh is a top 5 post player.
This is nothing. Happens is sports all the time. But of course, the media and fans are making it bigger than it actually is.
Usually when people say "we're fine" or "I'm fine" there is something that is irking them about one another. It may not be a big deal, but they are trying to downplay it.
Probably just Brain Shaw actually. Keep in mind the Lakers included Aaron McKie in the 1st Gasol deal. McKie at the time was coaching for the 76ers. Did the NBA say anything? Nope... when the Mavs tried to Kidd get Van Horn had to fly to New Jersey and work with the team. Does the NBA make exceptions for the Lakers? Hmm...
