Game 50: Memphis Grizzlies (35-12) @ Phoenix Suns (28-21)

[JTrain]

Expected Overreactions to this game:
- "We lost because of Kieffs Technical" - no we didn't
- "Small Ball sucks" - It gave us a chance to win, to begin with
- "We'll never beat Memphis" - first a double OT and now a Green o-board and lucky shot, with a bad call on Bledsoe in the same play.
- "We need a closer" - Kieff leads NBA in clutch time FG%, Bledsoe is 5th, IT is also pretty good at end of games.
- "Goran can't play as SG, we need to change the roster so he handles the ball" - He missed 2 crucial plays where he was handling the ball at the top of the key
- "Our defense sucks" - it was just amazing what we did to Gasol and Z-Bo tonight.
- "Refs never give us a break" - I actually agree with this one. This game speficically was ridiculous. The last call on Bled and the off-ball foul on Gasol were just BS. It's sickening that there isn't a way that refs are held accountable for all the mess they do.

I mostly agree with this (except maybe the Dragic comment--I still think he makes fewer mistakes and moves the offense better than Bledsoe). This season is so frustrating because I think we're so damn close to being a really good team (like 5 or 6 seed) but we just can't quite pull the pieces together. On one hand, we had the game in our pocket against maybe the third best team in the league, just like we did a few weeks ago against them. But on the other hand, every win is extremely important at this point, and moral victories aren't doing anything for us.

I feel like we really need to go 6-2 in the next eight games, otherwise it's going to be another frustrating near miss.

[JTrain]

Isn't there a site where a guy reviews every NBA foul and then analyzes the data to see who is getting the worst calls?

[rsavaj]

When you look at the play Horny drew up at the end, it was actually pretty smart: http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2015/ ... as-bledsoe

Problem is they had the DPOY on the other end...

[Revived]

With 1:35 Memphis cuts it to 5. If we call timeout and bring in defense/rebounding, then use the entire clock before shooting, we are fine. Instead we keep in the twins and Bledsoe gets it stolen with 12 seconds still on the shot clock. So they have the ball with 1:22 left and we don't have Wright or Len in. That killed us. At worst, they should have had 1:10 left with Wright and/or Len in for defense and rebounding.

That's what all of us were saying.

Our small ball worked only until Memphis put Marc & ZBo both in the game.

I think Kerrsed touched on this earlier in more detail.

[AtheJ415]

With 1:35 Memphis cuts it to 5. If we call timeout and bring in defense/rebounding, then use the entire clock before shooting, we are fine. Instead we keep in the twins and Bledsoe gets it stolen with 12 seconds still on the shot clock. So they have the ball with 1:22 left and we don't have Wright or Len in. That killed us. At worst, they should have had 1:10 left with Wright and/or Len in for defense and rebounding.

That's what all of us were saying.

Our small ball worked only until Memphis put Marc & ZBo both in the game.

I think Kerrsed touched on this earlier in more detail.

Overgeneralizing small ball here. Our best lineup is the 3 PGs, Kieff, and Len. That would've been no different than our regular starters except IT subbed for Tucker, and the matchups with Marc & ZBo would've been the same. That's the lineup we should've gone with. That small ball lineup works. Marcus at the 4 with Kieff at the 5 or Plumlee or whatever Hornacek decided to do towards the end was a travesty. If you're up 7 with 1 30 left, put in at least Len so that you have a rim protector.

I would've rocked Len and Wright at the 4 and 5, or at least Len and Kieff. The guards can get you points still anyways.

[AtheJ415]

Expected Overreactions to this game:
- "We lost because of Kieffs Technical" - no we didn't
- "Small Ball sucks" - It gave us a chance to win, to begin with
- "We'll never beat Memphis" - first a double OT and now a Green o-board and lucky shot, with a bad call on Bledsoe in the same play.
- "We need a closer" - Kieff leads NBA in clutch time FG%, Bledsoe is 5th, IT is also pretty good at end of games.
- "Goran can't play as SG, we need to change the roster so he handles the ball" - He missed 2 crucial plays where he was handling the ball at the top of the key
- "Our defense sucks" - it was just amazing what we did to Gasol and Z-Bo tonight.
- "Refs never give us a break" - I actually agree with this one. This game speficically was ridiculous. The last call on Bled and the off-ball foul on Gasol were just BS. It's sickening that there isn't a way that refs are held accountable for all the mess they do.

I mostly agree with this (except maybe the Dragic comment--I still think he makes fewer mistakes and moves the offense better than Bledsoe). This season is so frustrating because I think we're so damn close to being a really good team (like 5 or 6 seed) but we just can't quite pull the pieces together. On one hand, we had the game in our pocket against maybe the third best team in the league, just like we did a few weeks ago against them. But on the other hand, every win is extremely important at this point, and moral victories aren't doing anything for us.

I feel like we really need to go 6-2 in the next eight games, otherwise it's going to be another frustrating near miss.

We didn't lose because of Kieff's technical only because no 1 play decides the game. He did cost us 1 point. That was the difference in the game. And it's still unacceptable. We're getting to the "you can't fix stupid" point with this crap. He is knowingly costing us points in a key playoff run because he would rather talk smack to show up the opponent or b**** to the refs who have literally never changed a call. He knows it's a lose lose. It's selfish. He just doesn't give a ****. I'm fine heaping as much blame on him as humanly possible. This **** has to stop.

[RunDogGun]

Expected Overreactions to this game:
- "We lost because of Kieffs Technical" - no we didn't
- "Small Ball sucks" - It gave us a chance to win, to begin with
- "We'll never beat Memphis" - first a double OT and now a Green o-board and lucky shot, with a bad call on Bledsoe in the same play.
- "We need a closer" - Kieff leads NBA in clutch time FG%, Bledsoe is 5th, IT is also pretty good at end of games.
- "Goran can't play as SG, we need to change the roster so he handles the ball" - He missed 2 crucial plays where he was handling the ball at the top of the key
- "Our defense sucks" - it was just amazing what we did to Gasol and Z-Bo tonight.
- "Refs never give us a break" - I actually agree with this one. This game speficically was ridiculous. The last call on Bled and the off-ball foul on Gasol were just BS. It's sickening that there isn't a way that refs are held accountable for all the mess they do.

I mostly agree with this (except maybe the Dragic comment--I still think he makes fewer mistakes and moves the offense better than Bledsoe). This season is so frustrating because I think we're so damn close to being a really good team (like 5 or 6 seed) but we just can't quite pull the pieces together. On one hand, we had the game in our pocket against maybe the third best team in the league, just like we did a few weeks ago against them. But on the other hand, every win is extremely important at this point, and moral victories aren't doing anything for us.

I feel like we really need to go 6-2 in the next eight games, otherwise it's going to be another frustrating near miss.

We didn't lose because of Kieff's technical only because no 1 play decides the game. He did cost us 1 point. That was the difference in the game. And it's still unacceptable. We're getting to the "you can't fix stupid" point with this crap. He is knowingly costing us points in a key playoff run because he would rather talk smack to show up the opponent or b**** to the refs who have literally never changed a call. He knows it's a lose lose. It's selfish. He just doesn't give a ****. I'm fine heaping as much blame on him as humanly possible. This **** has to stop.

Kerrsed has said a number of times that they missed the tech free throw, so how did he cost us a point? However, sixteen more free throws, seven in the last 2:33 did cost us the game.

[Frank Lee]

Missing a few early on did not help.

I get the whole 'unfair' ref thing. It does look like our diminutive guards get banged around. And perhaps we do not get the same leeway on D... but we lose because we have a difficult time executing a half court offense. We make costly turnovers, lose track of time, and often have the wrong personnel in (it seems). We a prone to give up Offensive boards/second chance pts and have glaring defensive liabilities....And as in last night, we just find ways to lose. Yeah, it doesn't help to toss in tuff love from the refs. But most of our misfortune can be fixed/changed/aborted etc....

The 5 on the court and Coach KrisKros bare full responsibility.

[MGA]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Gambo987/status/562493805706739712[/tweet]
Rebounding is literally Tucker's main forte, even McD has said in interviews how Tucker gets all loose balls and key rebounds.

And yet there he was on the bench.

Lmao

You're not taking into account that Memphis didn't take a timeout following our offense possession. Otherwise Horny more than likely would've subbed him in for defense. Really smart move by Memphis not calling that timeout.

[Eney]

Dragić usage rate is fifth in our team, so bassically a dude that has run the offense was all NBA and most improved, got relegated 4 spots from last year, because he can adept to the SG spot the best out of the bunch of PG. In the first half he scored 13 of his points and touched the ball 50times in the second half he touched the ball 7 times. I know IT was going off but the entire second half he was played as the flor spacer for IT, MM and Bled. And out of the 7 touches 2 were TO he had 2 TO with 50 touches in the first half. The more you get the ball out of his hands the less effective he is and he f*** up even more. Dragić will leave after this season if IT or Bled are not traded.

I'm all for saying to him grow a pair and play SG, flor spacer duties but dont expect him to be happy and effective in that position.

Small ball can work wonders in spurts, but overplaying it especially against a team with quality bigs gets you ass***. I hope they learned a lesson from that game.

As far as officiating goes, if all you do is play iso ball without an established superstar/allstar you are never getting calls. It is that way in the NBA. You either play team ball and succed (Spurs, Atlanta) or you have superstars that get calls on iso plays (Houston). There is no way you get the same calls as Harden or any other superstar gets if you're Dragić, Bled or IT on isolation plays. Expecting that is delusional.

[Revived]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Gambo987/status/562493805706739712[/tweet]
Rebounding is literally Tucker's main forte, even McD has said in interviews how Tucker gets all loose balls and key rebounds.

And yet there he was on the bench.

Lmao

You're not taking into account that Memphis didn't take a timeout following our offense possession. Otherwise Horny more than likely would've subbed him in for defense. Really smart move by Memphis not calling that timeout.

Memphis isn't gonna try and help us get our defense set. Hornacek should have just put Tucker and Len in when we had the ball on offense, they weren't gonna kill our offense, and we certainly need defense more than offense at that point.

[Frank Lee]

I can't think of any reason CusMo plays other than to boost his trade value. Lets not forget this 'cultural' aspect of him being a Sun. Has he pulled his 'last straw' ? If the FO has intentions of moving him and possibly his Bro, it would not be unlikely they issue (or suggest) the playing time order. I have to think the three of them Coach , Babby, and McDo are on one page. Keif, packaged right, could net some very good talent and may be the big name McDo and Sarver seek.

Here is a question, if faced with splitting up or being traded together, what would the MoBros choose? Would they be so bold to demand it?

[rsavaj]

I can't think of any reason CusMo plays other than to boost his trade value. Lets not forget this 'cultural' aspect of him being a Sun. Has he pulled his 'last straw' ? If the FO has intentions of moving him and possibly his Bro, it would not be unlikely they issue (or suggest) the playing time order. I have to think the three of them Coach , Babby, and McDo are on one page. Keif, packaged right, could net some very good talent and may be the big name McDo and Sarver seek.

Here is a question, if faced with splitting up or being traded together, what would the MoBros choose? Would they be so bold to demand it?

I think his 40% shooting from 3 is a pretty solid reason.

[Frank Lee]

touche

[Cutter]

There is a difference between small ball and the 3 pg line up.

Small ball is 3 pg plus Markieff at C and PJ at PF. That is super small (but fast) and can score, but very limited defense. I hate small ball.

However, when running a 3 pg rotation, we can run Len at the C and one of Markieff or Wright at the 4 . I'm ok with with this approach for a few minutes each half. I would like to try Len-Wright with the 3 pg. I know Wright has very limited range, but it's a balance between offense and defense that Hornacek should look for. Len-Wright would control the paint defensively and protect the rim while scoring close to the basket. The 3 pg could shoot all they wanted and provide the scoring. I only want to run 3 pg with Len at C.

No more small ball.

[In Len We Trust]

Absolutely agree. 3 PG lineup is ONLY great when the FC is Keef/Len. Marcus and Markieff on the boards vs. Randolph and Gasol is horrific coaching.

[lordninja 11]

Phoenix has a tough team man, props to those guys. I feel the 8th seed will come down between you guys and N.O.P. The pelicans has the easier schedule IMO but the Suns was in the same position last year so they know what it takes. I'd hate to see them in the 1st rd that's for sure.

[Revived]

Absolutely agree. 3 PG lineup is ONLY great when the FC is Keef/Len. Marcus and Markieff on the boards vs. Randolph and Gasol is horrific coaching.

Agreed and btw you and-1 to post ratio looks hella good.

[In Len We Trust]

I want to see Hornacek at least try out a IT-Bled-Dragic-Wright-Len lineup. Would be very interesting.

[Revived]

This thread is disgusting.

Is this the Grizzlies forum?

Why? We always find ways to lose to the Grizzlies, why is it surprising that fans are realistic enough to expect it?