The advertising for the NBA playoffs always reflects the
drama that is the postseason. “Win or go Home” is the mantra and NBA players
seem to embrace this mentality tooth and nail. The Memphis Grizzlies definitely
brought this point home when they defeated the top ranked San Antonio Spurs in
the first round of the playoffs last season.
The Grizzlies clawed their way into the playoffs just barely
nabbing the eighth seed in the Western Conference. They weren’t happy with just
making the playoffs though; they had something to prove.
And just like the eighth-placed Golden State Warriors who shocked
the NBA by knocking out the number one ranked Dallas Mavericks back in 2007 the
Grizzlies would send the top seeded Spurs on an early vacation of their own.
Only the second time an eighth-seed has defeated a number one seed since the
NBA extended the first round to a best-of-seven series back in 2003.
Even more impressive
about their series win over the Spurs is the fact that they did so without one
of their top scorers Rudy Gay in the lineup. Zach Randolph’s dominant play was
the main reason the Grizzlies made it to the playoffs after his teammate Gay
was lost 54 games into the season.
Randolph then went on to give Tim Duncan fits in their first
round matchup with his big compact body and sweet shooting stroke. He would
even clinch one of the Grizzlies wins in that series with a three pointer.
After defeating the Spurs, the Grizzlies would then go on to
take it the distance with the Oklahoma City
Thunder before being eliminated in the
seventh game of that series. Not only was it a hard fought series, it was also a
high scoring series with two of the seven games going into overtime.
This year the Grizzlies have themselves better positioned to
make a deep run into the postseason. Although they have played without Randolph
for most of the year, they are still sitting in the fifth spot going into the
playoffs.
Randolph went down with a knee injury after appearing in
only four games and didn’t see the floor again until about two weeks ago in the
Grizzlies home loss versus the Toronto Raptors. Coach Lionel Hollins has been carefully
monitoring Randolph’s minutes in hopes that once the playoffs arrive his big
man will be able to deliver the same stellar performance he gave the Grizzlies
last postseason.
And if the playoffs started today the Grizzlies would be
matched up against the Los Angeles Clippers who have already beaten them twice this
year. Randolph didn’t play in the first game and was only playing in his fifth
game after coming back from injury when the Grizzlies played them the second
time.
But they do have one more matchup on the 9th of
this month in Memphis. If these two teams manage to hold their current playoff positions
then this could shape up to be a very interesting playoff series.
Randolph versus Blake Griffin… Marc Gasol versus DeAndre
Jordan… Mike Conley pitting his skills against Chris Paul… Actually that last
one sounds like it could be trouble for the Grizzlies but they did manage to
get past Tony Parker last season and they almost survived Russell Westbrook.
But even if Randolph isn’t up to full speed once the
playoffs begin, this time around they will have Gay there to take pressure off
of him. And although they are a much higher seed than they were last year, look
for the Grizzlies to once again embrace that “do or die” attitude that made
them so successful in last year’s playoffs. Because in their eyes they still
have something to prove.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and an NBA Blogger for The Sport Mentalist 2. He is also a Sports Reporter for Pro Sports Lives. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com and be sure to follow him on Twitter @sportmentalist.
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