Blogs  ›  Unobstructed View by Chris Avis

The Grizzlies provided the low-stress victory that I needed

On Twitter:

    follow me on Twitter

    Posted 11/19 at 8:51 AM

    The Grizzlies put on the kind of performance last night that I was expecting on Friday against the Bucks. They came out of the gate strong and never looked back, building upon a lead throughout the first three quarters. The telling sign that the game was the Grizzlies was the 3rd quarter. The Grizz have struggled mightily holding leads past the 3rd this season. When the 4th quarter started and Memphis was up 19, I was sure of the victory.

    The Sacramento Kings sure miss Kevin Martin. The Grizzlies lost by five at Arco Arena in November as Kevin Martin scored 33.  With Bobby Jackson in the lineup instead of Martin, the Kings lose by 15. Just like his time in Memphis, I got a kick out of watching Bobby jack up three after three. When he hit his one and only long range shot of the night, I was actually excited because I knew that it would give Bobby the justification to hoist up a few more (which he did, and missed). My favorite sequence was when Jackson shot a three and missed badly but the rebound went directly to another Kings player. The Kings moved the ball around until Jackson got it and threw up another three and airballed it. Welcome back to FedExForum Bobby!

    It was nice to see the team shoot well from outside, especially Rudy Gay. The Grizz aren’t going to shoot 10-16 from three on a consistent basis, but it would be nice to see the team shoot at least 35% or so. (The Grizz were shooting 30% from long range heading into the game.)

    As the game was a blowout, there’s no need to pinpoint which Memphis players excelled, as the entire team gelled for the blowout victory. Since the game was never in doubt, my friend and I decided to come up with the following contests that the Grizzlies game promotion staff should think about having later in the year.

    1. The next time the Grizz play the Kings (Feb. 20), it should be medieval night. (Kings/medieval, get it?). There could be a fan joust during one of the timeouts, a nerf archery contest and maybe even get the Medieval Larpers (LARP= Live Action Role Play, don’t ask me how I know) to perform at halftime. Here’s a sample:


    2. There should be a halftime show featuring a Wii sports duel. As a matter of fact, it could just be an entire video game night. There could be a Wii tennis match at halftime with two fans playing in the middle of the court with the game being shown on the scoreboards. Each half of the arena could win some sort of prize if their guy won. There could also be a guitar hero dual before the start of the 4th quarter with an AC/DC. The winner could win AC/DC tickets

    3. There should be a Memphis themed night with an Elvis karoke contest and also a BBQ Nacho eating contest. I think this should happen the night the Grizz play the Heat and all University of Memphis students get a discounted ticket if they show their student ID and promise to heckle Mario Chalmers all night.

    4. There’s a fair amount of halftime shows with local children and youth playing basketball. There should be a halftime game with out of shape men in their 30s and 40s playing. The losing team in the game has to exit the arena immediately. The winning team gets to upgrade to the lower level. The Grizzlies grandmas and grandpas could serve as cheerleaders.

    Suffice it to say, I needed the low-stress blowout victory. Between Friday night’s Bucks OT game and my two-point fantasy football victory on Sunday, I couldn’t take another barnburner.

     

    Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

    Previous: Ramon Sessions makes me a believer in the Bucks win over the Grizzlies

    Next: Is it too early to start making playoff predictions?

    Chris Avis was a pivotal ball boy for the Grizzlies during the playoffs of 2004 and 2005. During that time he delivered nachos to Zach Randolph, folded Steve Nash's warmups, threw a towel to Kobe Bryant and was scolded by Baron Davis. His crowning achievement was when Karl Malone called him "Big Man." He now serves as the fan blogger for the Grizzlies and is one half of the writing team at Rocking the Suburbs.

    Disclaimer: All opinions expressed by Chris Avis are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Memphis Grizzlies or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. Note that Chris has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being a Grizzlies fan and NBA accredited member of the media.