http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2011/03/03/grizzlies-pulling-off-rare-feat-on-defense/?eref=sihp
What might be a bit surprising is how the Grizzlies have made their push over the last 20 games, in which they are 14-6. Over that span, they have played defense at a level only a half-dozen or so teams have reached this season. Those teams are known defensive royalty. The Grizzlies are not, and it was their borderline top-10 offense that carried their shaky defense to 40 wins last season.
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Forcing turnovers is a skill. Too often I read writers complaining about how their favorite team blew it against Memphis by playing sloppy and turning the ball over too often. Nonsense. If it happens every night, it’s not an accident; the Grizzlies want to take the ball away, as often as possible.
But that’s really all they do well on defense. They allow a league-average mark from three-point range and an effective field-goal percentage (which takes threes into account) a tick worse than the league average. They are a bad defensive rebounding team, and they send opponents to the line a bit more often than an average club, according to Basketball-Reference.
