Spurs vs. Grizzlies Previews

[duncan228]

Memphis (39-39) at San Antonio (48-30) (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010040924)
Game info: 8:30 pm EDT Fri Apr 9, 2010
TV: FSTN, FSSW
By Dan Pieringer

For teams battling for playoff position in the tightly packed Western Conference, each game in the final week of the season could have a dramatic impact on the final standings.

The San Antonio Spurs, therefore, are likely thrilled to be playing their next one at home against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Spurs look to improve their playoff outlook Friday night with their 11th straight home win over their Southwest Division rivals.

The West’s playoff field is set, but the order is far from decided with the season ending Wednesday. San Antonio (48-30) is locked in a three-way tie with Portland and Oklahoma City for the last three seeds, but the Spurs could finish as high as No. 2.

San Antonio didn’t help its cause with a 112-101 loss at Phoenix on Wednesday night. The Spurs missed 11 free throws in the first half and finished with 18 turnovers to the Suns’ nine while losing for the first time in five games.

“There were too many things that we could have taken care of that were simple,” said forward Tim Duncan, who scored 14 points and went 4 of 7 from the line. “Just turning the ball over, missed free throws. We had a bunch of missed assignments defensively. That’s a lot of things that we can clean up. It’s a disappointing game for us, but such is life. We’ve got another one in two days.”

The Spurs have to like their chances of bouncing back in their return to the AT&T Center, where they’ve won nine of 10 with victories over Oklahoma City, Phoenix, Cleveland and Orlando. The lone loss in that stretch came against the conference-best Los Angeles Lakers.

The Spurs have also dominated the Grizzlies in San Antonio, winning 23 of 28 all-time meetings and taking the last 10 by an average of 10.6 points. Duncan had 19 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in a 104-97 win in the season’s first meeting at AT&T Center on Jan. 29.

O.J. Mayo led Memphis with 28 points in that game. The second-year guard is averaging 24.1 points and shooting 53.4 percent in seven career games against the Spurs, and he’s scored 29.7 points per contest while shooting 60.7 percent in three games in San Antonio.

Mayo was held to 11 points and the Grizzlies recorded their lowest total in two months in a 110-84 loss at Dallas on Wednesday night. It was Memphis’ third straight defeat and sixth in seven games.

“You can’t quit,” point guard Mike Conley said. “We have goals like making the playoffs, and we understand that we aren’t in it, but we still have to be able to play no matter who we are playing or no matter who is out on the court. We have to play at 100 percent effort and we didn’t bring that tonight.”

Conley is averaging 17.9 points and 5.9 assists over the last seven games.

San Antonio point guard Tony Parker has averaged 9.0 points and 3.5 assists in two games off the bench after missing a month with a broken finger. Parker, who suffered the injury in a 102-92 win at Memphis on March 6, has totaled 12 points and seven assists in two games against the Grizzlies.

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Team Stat Leaders

Points
Zach Randolph Mem 20.8
Tim Duncan SA 17.9

Rebounds
Zach Randolph Mem 11.8
Tim Duncan SA 10.2

Assists
Mike Conley Mem 5.3
Tony Parker SA 5.6

[duncan228]

Analysis: No fire in Grizzlies' finish (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/09/no-fire-in-griz-finish/)
There's no 'i' in t-e-a-m, but there's one in q-u-i-t
By Ronald Tillery
Memphis Commercial Appeal

SAN ANTONIO -- Grizzlies assistant coach Damon Stoudamire, not so far removed from performing as an elite-level NBA point guard, has a keep-it-real approach and often challenges players with a simple fact of life.

He's used it on Rudy Gay.

Mike Conley's heard it.

And if this keeps up -- meaning the Grizzlies' unproductive ways and losing seasons -- O.J. Mayo will soon get the spiel, too.

At some point, Stoudamire says, the league's decision-makers stop focusing on youth, coaching changes and organizational dysfunction as it relates to player development.

The conversation eventually shifts, and the question becomes: "What is Player X doing to contribute to winning?"

The Grizzlies (39-39) still have a chance to finish with their first non-losing record in four years. Starting tonight at San Antonio, the Griz have four games remaining to grab at least two victories and finish at .500.

That might seem like a small consolation to missing the playoffs for a fourth straight season. But to understand Stoudamire's point is to know that shedding a loser label has to start somewhere. These Grizzlies are in position to take a step out of mediocrity if they choose to finish the season with all-out effort.

Yet what's been on display with losses in six of their last seven games is a lack of maturity and mental toughness on the floor.

This is what compelled coach Lionel Hollins to call out his team Wednesday night after a lackluster effort that resulted in a 110-84 loss at Dallas. Hollins continued his tough love approach Thursday when he did not schedule a practice and instead met with players individually.

"Dallas, San Antonio -- they're still playing for their playoff lives," Hollins said after the Dallas debacle. "They're coming out and playing hard. Are we willing to make that sacrifice and play that hard? It hasn't shown in the last seven games that we are willing to do that."

The Grizzlies' only shot at redemption is improving their general lack of focus and concentration, which has led to opponents averaging 26 points off turnovers during their three-game losing streak.

Most of their turnovers have come as a result of careless passes and bad decisions. The mistakes are often compounded by an unwillingness to defend in order to make up for the miscues.

At this rate, not even Saturday's home finale against Philadelphia figures to be a walk in the park despite the Grizzlies' 13-1 record at home against sub-.500 teams. The chances of finishing with a non-losing record get more difficult with games at Denver (Monday) and at Oklahoma City (Wednesday).

The Griz are displaying the same lack of readiness for playoff-intense basketball that was on display when they lost eight straight home games from Feb. 5-March 6.

At that point, the Griz were in postseason contention but found every conceivable way to lose, from blowing leads to getting outworked.

Memphis is behind Oklahoma City in organizational development and has been surpassed by an injury-riddled Houston team in the Western Conference standings (http://commercialappeal.sportsdirectinc.com/basketball/nba-standings.aspx?page=/data/nba/standings/2009-2010/league/standings.html).

Oklahoma City is playoff-bound because it defends and gives maximum effort consistently. And all one needs to do is look at Houston's road win (http://commercialappeal.sportsdirectinc.com/basketball/nba-boxscores.aspx?page=/data/nba/results/2009-2010/boxscore781426.html) in FedExForum followed by its pummeling of Utah the next night at home to know that the Rockets haven't given up on the season.

"We should be trying to play spoiler right now," Conley said.

This still evidently is a fragile group that can go easily astray when facing adversity. When the going gets rough, the Griz make bad shots, play one-on-one basketball and refuse to defend.

There is no doubt the Griz sorely miss Marc Gasol, who won't play again this season because of a partially torn neck muscle.

Gasol plays the right way, and that has helped Zach Randolph's focus. But when Gay deviated from the offense and launched a 3-pointer late in the second half Wednesday night, Randolph checked out. He delivered a pair of touch fouls -- his fifth and sixth of the game -- and took a seat.

One of the lasting images from the Dallas game was Hollins replacing a lethargic Mayo with previously demoted veteran Jamaal Tinsley, who hadn't played since early February. Hollins later walked out of a timeout imploring the Griz to show pride.

"Don't quit. Don't give up," Hollins said as he followed the players onto the court.

A day later, Hollins' words can be turned into legitimate questions.

Have the Griz quit?

Have they given up?

The final four games will tell.

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GRIZZLIES at SPURS (http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/09/preview-grizzlies-spurs/)

7:30 p.m., AT&T Center

TV, radio: Fox Sports Tennessee, WRBO-FM (103.5)

Records: Grizzlies, 39-39; Spurs, 48-30.

Lineups

Grizzlies: Mike Conley, 6-1, O.J. Mayo, 6-4, Rudy Gay, 6-8, Zach Randolph, 6-9, Hasheem Thabeet, 7-3.

Spurs: Garret Temple, 6-6, Manu Ginobili, 6-6, Richard Jefferson, 6-7, Tim Duncan, 6-11, Antonio McDyess, 6-9.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

Conley has scored in double figures in a season-high 11 consecutive games, averaging 16.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists on 47-percent shooting during that span. Gay has scored at least 20 points in five of his last seven games. He's averaged 1.6 steals in his last 18 games. Mayo is slumping after finding an offensive groove over the past two weeks. He's averaging 10.7 points on 40-percent shooting in the last three games. Randolph is averaging 21.5 points and 11.6 rebounds in his last 10 games.

THE SKINNY

The Grizzlies have lost 10 straight games against the Spurs in AT&T Center. Memphis is 13-45 all time against San Antonio (5-23 on the road). The Griz snapped a five-game losing streak in the overall series Jan. 16 in the teams' first meeting of the season.

THE QUOTE

"It wouldn't be nothing crazy for us to come out and play great (tonight)." -- Gay, on how the Grizzlies have been unpredictable for most of the season.

-- Ronald Tillery

[raspsa]

Temple starting once again.

[easy7]

This is the game where the Grizzly Blair turns on the Spurs... :lmao

[shelshor]

Referee Assignments
Fri. Apr 9
Memphis @ San Antonio: Ron Garretson; Pat Fraher; Eli Roe

[duncan228]

Memphis Grizzlies (39-39) at San Antonio Spurs (48-30) (http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/09/1571127/memphis-grizzlies-39-39-at-san.html)

Star swingman Manu Ginobili got his new contract and he now hopes to help his San Antonio Spurs free themselves of a log-jam in the Western Conference playoff standings tonight when the Memphis Grizzlies visit the Alamo City.

The Spurs officially inked Ginobili, who is averaging 16.5 points with 4.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 72 games this season, to a multi-year contract extension early Friday morning.

"It is quite obvious how important Manu has been to our program," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "It is a great feeling to know that one of the best players in the world will continue to be a Spur."

The Spurs are currently in a three-way tie for the sixth spot in the West with Portland and Oklahoma City as each team attempts to steer itself away from a possible first round matchup with the defending champion LA Lakers.

San Antonio was unable to help itself in its most recent outing, falling in the desert to a red-hot Phoenix team on Wednesday. Amare Stoudemire had a game-high 29 points in that one, as the Suns got back to winning with a 112-101 victory over the Spurs.

Roger Mason had 18 points off the bench to pace San Antonio while Richard Jefferson added 17 points in the loss.

It was a 29-29 game after the first quarter, but the Suns started to pull away in the second, when Stoudemire poured in 12 points. Five of them came in an 11-2 run Phoenix used to end the half and take a 61-52 lead into the break.

"That was definitely one of the keys to the game," Mason said. "The last minute and 50 seconds of the first half, they made a run and turned the intensity up and we didn't respond very well."

Memphis, meanwhile, is playing out the string and dropped its third straight in Dallas on Wednesday when Dirk Nowitzki poured in 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds, as the Mavericks crushed the Grizzlies, 110-84.

Rudy Gay tallied 23 points for the Grizzlies, who have lost six of seven. All- Star Zach Randolph posted 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Mike Conley finished with 17 points and seven assists in defeat.

"They beat us. They came out hard and aggressive, jumped on us and then tried to conserve their starters," Memphis head coach Lionel Hollins said.

The Grizz have lost in their last 10 trips to San Antonio.