vs. 
Who: Memphis Grizzlies(23-19) vs. New Orleans Pelicans(13-26)
When: MLK Jr. Day Monday, January 18th, 2016
Where: FedEx Forum In Memphis, TN
Time: 1:30 PM CST
TV/Radio: ESPN, ESPN 92.9 FM
Season Series: Grizzlies lead 1-0
Series Overall: Pelicans lead 28-21
Team Trivia Grizzlies guard Mike Conley and Pelicans guard Eric Gordon played on the same AAU team alongside Greg Oden. Conley and Gordon are Indianapolis natives, as is Grizzlies guard Courtney Lee.
Martin Luther King Jr.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I47Y6VHc3Ms[/youtube]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDl84vusXos[/youtube]
The Grindhouse
http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/news/mlk-celebration-coverage-160115
Honoree Bios
Jalen Rose
ESPN Analyst Jalen Rose will be honored at this year’s events, celebrating his 13-year NBA career (1994-2007), most notably spent with the Indiana Pacers alongside Reggie Miller, where he reached three consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances, including a trip to the 2000 NBA Finals. As the 13th overall pick of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets, Rose left the fabled University of Michigan Wolverines where he was part of the “Fab Five” recruiting class of 1991. During his tenure, the Wolverines made two NCAA Finals appearances in 1992 and 1993 before Rose left for the 1994 NBA Draft. As a freshman, Rose led the Fab Five in scoring, amassing 19 points per game, and set the school freshman scoring record with 597 total points. Subsequently, Michigan is the only team in Final Four history to ever start five freshman. Off the court, in 2000 Rose established the Jalen Rose Foundation/Charitable Fund to create opportunity for underprivileged youth. Since its inception, Rose has personally donated more than $1.2 million to the fund. Successively in 2011, Rose then created the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy (JRLA) in his hometown Detroit.
Spencer Haywood
A legend of the ABA, Mississippi-native Spencer Haywood forever changed the NBA landscape. As a 20-year old rookie with the ABA’s Denver Rockets in 1969-70, Haywood owned the league’s Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player designations, while also leading the league in scoring and rebounding, grabbing an average of 19.5 rebounds per game, the ABA’s all-time record. Haywood shook the scene in the 1970-71 season when he decided to sign with the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics. At the time, the NBA prohibited the drafting and signing of a player before his college class graduated. The NBA league office and other NBA teams opposed the move, protesting that it violated existing rules. Subsequently, the NBA took Haywood and the Sonics to court. The argument in Haywood's favor was that, as the sole wage earner in his struggling family, he was a "hardship case" and therefore had a right to begin earning his living. The Supreme Court ruled in Haywood's favor, forever altering professional basketball. Beginning in 1971, underclassmen were allowed to enter the NBA Draft provided they could give evidence of "hardship" to the NBA office. In 1976 the hardship requirement was eliminated in favor of the current Early Entry procedure,
Tamika Catchings
Known as the WNBA’s Indiana Fever’s “do everything” forward, Tamika Catchings is set to become the WNBA’s only player ever to spend an entire career of 15 or more seasons with the same franchise, joining an elite group of her NBA counterparts to conquer the same designation: Kobe Bryant (19), John Stockton (19), Tim Duncan (18), Reggie Miller (18), Dirk Nowitzki (17), John Havlicek (16), Hal Greer (15), Elgin Baylor (14), Joe Dumars (14), Tony Parker (14), David Robinson (14), and Jerry West (14). On the court, she’s earned WNBA Finals MVP honors while leading the Fever to the 2012 WNBA championship. A year earlier, in 2011, she captured her first regular-season MVP honor. Last year, Catchings announced her intentions to retire following the 2016 WNBA season which coincides with the Summer Olympics in August 2016, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Catchings hopes to join an elite club with Teresa Edwards and Lisa Leslie who are currently the only American basketball players, male or female, to earn four Olympic gold medals. She is currently the WNBA career playoffs leader in points, rebounds, free throws and steals. Off the court, Catchings is one of the country’s most highly-regarded citizen-athletes. An inductee of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Catchings has spread her good works throughout Indiana and through national campaigns. Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton appointed Catchings to serve on the U.S. Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports. Serving in that capacity, she has traveled around the globe to engage girls and women through the power of sport. Among her social and cultural accolades, Catchings also serves as President of the WNBA Player Association.
Grizzlies Starters
Pelicans Starters
