Grizzlies vs. Celtics

[jman3134]

vs.

Who: Boston Celtics (7-2) @ Memphis Grizzlies(4-5)
When: Saturday, November 13th
Where: FedEx Forum - Memphis, TN
Time: 8:00 PM CST
TV/Radio: SNE-NE/SSO-Mem
Trivia Facts: The Grizzlies' Tony Allen was a member of the Boston Celtics a year ago, before Memphis signed him during the offseason. Also, the Celtics have shot better than 50% in their 4 straight road victories over the Grizzlies.


Can't knock the hustle.




Dunk sandwich served on a platter.....Onions!





Grizzlies Starters:




Celtics Starters:




Keys to the Game: Stop Rajon Rondo from penetrating in the lane, Grab rebounds both on offense and on defense, and play gritty perimeter defense.

[jefe]

We matched up really well with the Celtics last year (a very close loss here in memphis and a blowout win in Boston) so I expect a good game tonight - unless we do something stupid like let them have 11 straight dunks or layups to start the second half.

[jman3134]

I was thinking that we should be competitive, but they are on a hot streak and do have a win streak going against us in the Fedex forum. We need to turn things around after that brutal loss, so who really knows?

[mid-post]

Celtics looked really good against Miami. Forget the score, that wasn't a close game at all.
That said, if Conley can do a decent job on Rondo and Mayo can do a good job chasing around Ray Ray then the Grizzlies have a good chance to steal this from Boston.

[jman3134]

Seems like we are facing them at the wrong time though. I do not see Mayo stopping Ray Allen. My prediction is that he goes off for 30.

On another note, I didn't know that I am able to sticky on a board I don't moderate on.

[jman3134]

Pretty close early. We need to keep Glen Davis and co out of the paint. He can't get layups like that.

[jman3134]

That was a pretty awesome possession by Arthur. I really like how he's coming along.

[jman3134]

That was a pretty awesome possession by Arthur. I really like how he's coming along.

[jman3134]

Wow, both teams are shooting around 60%. We look really fresh early. I just hope that we can keep up our shooting and hit the boards at the same time. We do not want to go cold and then let them build a lead.

[ThreeYearPlan]

I'm tired of these damn end of quarter 3's where everyone stops playing, my goodness how many times must it happen before they realize that you don't stop playing until the time runs out

[jman3134]

What has been wrong with Marc Gasol lately?

[jman3134]

Wow, how is it that we come out of a timeout and they go on a huge run? Horrible playing by us. We look completely out of sync.

[jman3134]

What are we celebrating for? There's 7 seconds left on the game clock thanks to poor clock management.

[jman3134]

Oh so they end the game on a flagrant? You got to be kidding me. How about Pierce holding Conley on the break, or Pierce throwing his arm at a defender's face? Obviously that's clean play.....

Game over.

[ThreeYearPlan]

What the hell happened to Mayo and Marc, they look like they've regressed.

[I Am Awesome-O]

What the hell happened to Mayo and Marc, they look like they've regressed.

Marc is playing with a bad ankle and OJ is in a shooting slump. It happens.

[mid-post]

What the hell happened to Mayo and Marc, they look like they've regressed.

Yeah...I sort of agree. Marc looks like he's sort of uncomfortable out there against some of the better centers and then he starts to press a bit and get in foul trouble. OJ just looks...lost.
The f*ck happened to our offensive flow anyway? We had a few games where the guys were just sharing the ball beautifully. Is it the defensive schemes being implemented against us? Our fastbreak is broke as hell right now too. Ugh.
Even Rudy has started to go back to his dumb iso-chuckeration on the occasional possession. It's ironic, but sometimes it seems like Zach is the only one out there playing smart basketball
I didn't really expect the Grizzlies to win this one. The Celtics were/are very obviously the better team. But they definitely had a chance to steal one.
At least Vazquez looks like he'll be a solid contributor off the bench.
It's early in the season and Memphis is obviously a good young team. It just hurts to lose games like this at home.

[GrizzledGrizzFan]

Great crowd tonight - too many Celtics fans there though :p Vasquez looked great out there and Tony Allen had his best game by far as a Grizz. NO answer to Shaq early on ultimately spelled the Grizz's doom.

[jman3134]

Tony Allen actually did have a pretty awesome showing tonight. Vasquez was good as well, but I always feel like he is a turnover waiting to happen. I was not impressed with him on D at all.

We kept playing from behind and were never able to really build a lead. We were up and they tied it on a made three to close the half.

Marc Gasol just doesn't seem willing to shoot the ball. He'll be wide open half the time at the free throw line and continue to look for someone to pass to. Then there were a lot of turnovers on post entry feeds. They threw the ball into traffic with two men defending.

This was definitely a winnable game and we really blew it. OJ Maywho?

And, I would not place any of the blame on Rudy Gay. He may look like an iso player at times, but that's because there is very little motion without the ball at times. In the beginning of the 2nd quarter, the offense seemed to click and ran through the post pretty effectively. They made adjustments and we brought our subs in, and we fell behind and had to come back again.

Gay has been efficient from the field and really took his man off the dribble. No team has had an answer for him. And on the other end, he has been a solid defensive presence. Far and away our team MVP imo.

[mid-post]

Yeah, my last post wasn't meant to knock Rudy at all. It's just mild frustration at some of those jumpshots he seems to settle for. Because honestly, whenever he took Pierce into the mid-post, it looked like he couldn't be stopped. And that's the part of his game that I think could make him a superstar, especially if our perimeter players get open and make the right reads or knock down their shots (*cough* Mayo *cough*). I think the lack of perimeter shooting on this squad sometimes relegates him to becoming a jump-shooter in the offense. He's a pretty good shooter, but he gives you more when he's closer to the basket and/or taking the ball to the rim.

I'm probably going to watch some of the game again just to see what Boston was doing to interfere with the offense (assuming the Grizzlies weren't playing selfishly or stupidly on offense). Boston is a great team and I think the sum of their parts isn't nearly as great as the whole; they just play smart, tough and have a ton of big-time experience.