Grizzlies (22-54) vs. Blazers (48-28)

vanjulio · Post #1 » by **vanjulio** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 3:44 pm

vs.

Who: Memphis Grizzlies(22-54) vs. Portland Trailblazers(48-28)
When: Tuesday, April 7th
Where: FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN
Time: 7:00 PM CST
Radio: WRBO 103.5FM
TV: NBALP
Season Series: Grizzlies trail 0-3
Team Trivia: Grizz Coach Lionel Hollins had his player number retired for Portland. He was an All-Star as part of their 1976-77 championship team. Another member of the Grizzlies coaching staff, Damon Stoudamire, had a glorious career in Portland before landing in Memphis as well. Assistant Coach Johnny Davis also was an assistant at Portland.

Grizzlies Starters

Blazers Starters

Key Bench Players

Post #2 » by **SD2042** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 5:41 pm

The Blazers are in a bac2bac situation. They lost to the Rockets on the road on Sunday 102-88.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt= ... 10&prov=ap

Portland’s Brandon Roy was so overjoyed about making the playoffs he refused to let Sunday’s loss to Houston bring him down.

Houston beat Portland 102-88 on Sunday night, just hours after the Trail Blazers got their first playoff berth since 2003 when Dallas beat Phoenix 140-116.

Asked if the loss tainted the playoff berth, Roy responded: “Nah. We’re in the playoffs. We’re happy about it.”

That’s not to say they’re OK with any loss, it’s just that they’re not going to dwell on this loss on their big day.

“Of course, we would have rather won, but we’re still in the playoffs,” said Joel Przybilla, one of the most veteran players on this young team. “For guys that have been here a while … through a lot of the downs, it’s very gratifying for us to know we’re going to get in the playoffs and hopefully get in there for a lot of years to come.”

Blazers coach Nate McMillan said he talked to his team before and after the game about its playoff berth.

“I congratulated the guys for getting there, but our work is still not done,” he said. “We have a chance for home court and we have to keep working at it.”

Basically, they are on Cloud 9 about making the playoffs for the first time since 2003. However, this team can't be underestimated. They are 3-0 against the Grizzlies this season. If the Grizz can get the jump on the Blazers early and stay clamp down on them from start to finish, they stand a chance to win this game. LMA and B-Roy have to be limited from the field so the Grizz have to play better defense than they did from the previous matchups.

vanjulio · Post #3 » by **vanjulio** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 7:15 pm

I think after our dismal effort on March 16 at home and then one of the worst efforts of the season with only 66 pts at their home in front of millions of Spanish viewers watching the nationally televised game over there - the Blazers are not going to take us seriously at all. They will not have noticed our win streak and we still can shock them. I am really hoping we can hold on for one more win. Truth is that several Blazers are in a big slump although the team is still quite strong overall.

GrizzledGrizzFan · Post #4 » by **GrizzledGrizzFan** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 8:15 pm

Shooting to stay undefeated post-Cal

PDXKnight · Post #5 » by **PDXKnight** » Mon Apr 6, 2009 9:44 pm

vanjulio wrote:I think after our dismal effort on March 16 at home and then one of the worst efforts of the season with only 66 pts at their home in front of millions of Spanish viewers watching the nationally televised game over there - the Blazers are not going to take us seriously at all. They will not have noticed our win streak and we still can shock them. I am really hoping we can hold on for one more win. Truth is that several Blazers are in a big slump although the team is still quite strong overall.

Slump? We always struggle in Houston and before that, we won 4 games in a row by 20 points or more. I'd hardly call that a slump...

MemGrizz32 · Post #6 » by **MemGrizz32** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 4:38 am

If we like we have been playing then we have a pretty shot at this game.

Lets make it 6 of 7 GRIZZ!!!!!!!

vanjulio · Post #7 » by **vanjulio** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 1:48 pm

Oden2 wrote:Slump? We always struggle in Houston and before that, we won 4 games in a row by 20 points or more. I'd hardly call that a slump...

I mean 3 players in particular: Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, and Brandon Roy. OK maybe Roy hasn't been that bad but I read this and thought he might not be 100%, "[Against Houston] Brandon Roy had 22 points and six assists but seemed to be slowed a bit by a sore knee that he tweaked against Utah on Tuesday"

obviously team itself is powerful and we'll be doing well to keep it to single digits --- but I can dream of a win!

I just looked, and even fans on your team forum suggest you guys rest Roy tonight... that would be nice! 8-)

PDXKnight · Post #8 » by **PDXKnight** » Tue Apr 7, 2009 5:44 pm

vanjulio wrote:
Oden2 wrote:Slump? We always struggle in Houston and before that, we won 4 games in a row by 20 points or more. I'd hardly call that a slump...

I mean 3 players in particular: Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, and Brandon Roy. OK maybe Roy hasn't been that bad but I read this and thought he might not be 100%, "[Against Houston] Brandon Roy had 22 points and six assists but seemed to be slowed a bit by a sore knee that he tweaked against Utah on Tuesday"

obviously team itself is powerful and we'll be doing well to keep it to single digits --- but I can dream of a win!

I just looked, and even fans on your team forum suggest you guys rest Roy tonight... that would be nice!

Oden's been held down by foul trouble more than anything, though you can make a good case for Rudy. He hasn't made a shot in what feels like eternity and has missed 6 ft's when he started out as a 86 % FT shooter. He hasn't been very good lately to say the least. Likewise, you could make a case for Roy, but he's had trouble against Battier in the past so I think the two man system of Battier and Artest played somewhat of a role in that.

I'd be pretty worried about Portland's chances of winning this one without Roy. As it is, Memphis has been playing great basketball lately and being that Roy has been 90 % of our team at times, I'd be quite concerned about playing anybody without Roy.

Who knows, if Portland comes out unprepared to play, anything's possible. Memphis has been quite impressive lately and a Memphis win certainly isn't completely out of question.

PDXKnight · Post #9 » by **PDXKnight** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 1:06 am

Well Memphis certainly fought harder tonight, Portland was fortunate to pull away. Good game.

bgassassin · Post #10 » by **bgassassin** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 2:35 am

Garbage foul called on Rudy Gay.

thegreatblaze · Post #11 » by **thegreatblaze** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:01 am

Grizzlies did everything right to get that win. You guys played a hell of a game. We pulled that out of our asses.

Good luck next year and in the future. You guys are going to be scary.

Cro_Ruption · Post #12 » by **Cro_Ruption** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:08 am

Oj Mayo with some Rudy G Sauce on that=good combo and the spaniard , yall are gonna be dangerouse

bgassassin · Post #13 » by **bgassassin** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:16 am

Who knows? Maybe we'll be competing with you guys in the future as the top dogs in the West as these other older teams begin to fall off.

Bskey · Post #14 » by **Bskey** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:44 am

bgassassin wrote:Who knows? Maybe we'll be competing with you guys in the future as the top dogs in the West as these other older teams begin to fall off.

I kind of hope so, tired of the same few teams up there every year. It may be late but you guys are starting to get rolling, I was really impressed with Mayo. I don't like to say the Blazers got lucky, they played like crazy in the 2nd half to pull out that win, but at the same time they were lucky Mayo finally missed at the end. Hell of a game. It's so nice to see teams not tank for lottery balls and continue to play hard. Hope you guys can carry some momentum into next season. By the way, how are you guys liking Haddadi? He didn't look half bad.

I Am Awesome-O · Post #15 » by **I Am Awesome-O** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 3:59 am

bgassassin wrote:Who knows? Maybe we'll be competing with you guys in the future as the top dogs in the West as these other older teams begin to fall off.

That would require money spent or Blake Griffin. Something tells me we aren't going to have either of those.

bgassassin · Post #16 » by **bgassassin** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 4:37 am

Have you forgotten? 3YP!!! That's why it will be in the future.

PDXKnight · Post #17 » by **PDXKnight** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 4:38 am

bgassassin wrote:Who knows? Maybe we'll be competing with you guys in the future as the top dogs in the West as these other older teams begin to fall off.

Yeah, I could see that, but I'd hope that we'd have some competition as top western teams. Let's face it, once the older teams are no longer prevalent, the west may become a much weaker conference. As long as both teams could be successful in a COMPETITIVE (that's the key) conference, then I'd be very content with both of these teams being near the top.

Post #18 » by **DaVoiceMaster** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 4:44 am

With a season under your belts, I fully expect more from the Grizzlies next season. Gasol, Mayo and Conley (for the most part since Hollins took over) really are in their first season. Now that the season is over, I like what I see for the Grizzlies future. If they could somehow pull off the #1 pick, their starting 5 would look very good. Even without the #1 pick, they still look good. If you can get a little better starting PF, then improve your bench, the Grizzlies could do some serious damage. Mayo and Gay played great tonight. Mayo was just on fire. Good luck with the rest of this season, but looking forward to next season for you guys!

Post #19 » by **SD2042** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 6:19 am

I really wish the Grizz would've pull this one out with a win. I was thinking with them meeting the Blazers twice within the last two weeks of the season, they could at least get a win in one of the Blazers matchups. It wasn't the case here tonight. The Blazers wanted it more and achieve it by making the neccessary plays to get the win.

vanjulio · Post #20 » by **vanjulio** » Wed Apr 8, 2009 12:19 pm

Deja Vu all over again. "bad teams find ways to lose games" but "good teams find ways to win them".
We certainly could use some more depth next season. When Gasol was on bench 4th quarter... it was just ugly. I knew my key bench players would step up. Wow. Rudy got really hot and Outlaw is Grizz killer again.