Posted 2/01 at 11:35 AM
In a season when the Grizzlies have answered almost every test that comes their way, they will be offered up their biggest challenge of the year tonight in the form of the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. As intimidating as it might be to see the famed purple and gold on the other bench for most teams, this Grizzlies squad is not easily pushed around. The Lakers represent one of the last teams in the top tier of the NBA that the Grizzlies have yet to beat this season, and it’s safe to say that they’d like to add them to the list of title contenders that they’ve taken down this season. The Grizzlies fell in a disappointing loss on Saturday night, but should use the defeat to refocus their effort against the Lakers today. Beating the Lakers is a tall task for any team, but a win might be attainable tonight for a couple of reasons. The Lakers come to town on the final game of an eight game road trip that is the second end of a back-to-back that saw them defeat the Celtics yesterday thanks to Kobe Bryant’s fourth quarter heroics. While teams have taken notice of the Grizzlies, there is still the possibility that the Lakers will be looking past this game. The Lakers are also banged up right now, as Kobe Bryant is dealing with a bad back and a fractured finger and Ron Artest has plantar fasciitis in both feet. With the Grizzlies playing at a level that has not been seen in Memphis for years, now might be the time for the Grizzlies to make another statement to the league.
Here are a few things to watch for in tonight’s contest….
Chink in the armor: The Lakers are unquestionably a favorite to walk away with the Larry O’Brien trophy in late June, but their perimeter defense has been a major concern as of late. The Grizzlies will need to expose this tonight as it is one of the few deficiencies of an otherwise seemingly unbeatable Lakers squad. While Kobe Bryant will likely end up on the First Team All-Defensive squad for the eighth time of his career (meaning that O.J. Mayo will have to work for every point he gets tonight), Derek Fisher and Ron Artest have both lost a step in terms their ability to stay step-for-step with their opponent, meaning that Mike Conley and Rudy Gay will have to step up in a big way if the Grizzlies hope to come away with a win. Conley and Gay will lose their advantage if they allow Fisher and Artest to outmuscle them on the perimeter.
Big men galore: Tonight will be one of the rare nights when the opposing team can match up with the Grizzlies power forward-center combination, as Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol will have their work cut out for them against the Lakers power combo of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. The ties of the matchups are evident, thickening the plot of an already juicy matchup. The Pau-Marc Gasol sibling rivalry is obvious, but the more intriguing matchup will be between the only two All-Stars in Grizzlies franchise history, Randolph and Pau Gasol. Expect Randolph to come out firing on all cylinders as the Grizzlies newest franchise power forward, trying to make a statement against the only other All-Star in team history. Randolph’s tenacity should serve him well tonight against Gasol, who has never had the reputation of being a hard-nosed player. In 18 career head-to-head matchups Randolph and Gasol have each won nine contests, with Randolph barely edging him in statistics, averaging 19.1 points and 9.1 rebounds to Gasol’s 17.9 points and 8.7 boards.
Matchup of the night: A matchup to keep an eye on tonight will be at the shooting guard spot, where O.J. Mayo will go up against Kobe Bryant. If ever there was a season when Bryant’s famed competitiveness and will to win was put on display on a nightly basis it has been the 2009-10 campaign. Bryant is so ferociously chasing his fifth ring that he has ignored physical ailments to his back and finger on his shooting hand that would certainly keep out most players. Bryant is not like most players though, which makes this the toughest matchup that Mayo will face this season. In five career matchups against the future Hall-of-Famer Bryant has outscored Mayo 29.8 to 19.0. If Mayo can find a way to narrow that margin the Grizzlies will have a chance at coming away with a win tonight.
Stat of the Night: The Grizzlies are hoping to avoid two major Lakers milestones tonight, as Kobe Bryant has a chance to become the Lakers all-time franchise leading scorer and Phil Jackson is looking to become the team’s all-time winningest coach. Bryant needs 28 points tonight to eclipse former Grizzlies General Manager Jerry West for the all-time Lakers scoring record (West finished his career with 25,192 points). Jackson is currently tied with Pat Riley with 533 wins as Lakers head coach. The two could go hand-in-hand, as the Grizzlies can avoid Jackson getting win No. 534 by preventing Bryant from notching 28 points tonight.
Posted 2/01 at 11:35 AM
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Lakers should win. Best team in the NBA versus an improved but inferior Grizzly team. But of course; “hope springs eternal”.
Great Game tonight!Great support of our team and a packed house!Still a few of the yellow and purple people,but hey;guess you can’t keep them out. Only problem I had with tonight;Chris Wallace your choice of neck tie tonight- what were you thinking!Sure looked like Laker colors from were I was seated-Shame on you! Get some blue !
Yeah, Laker fans are like cockroaches. Hard to get rid of. If an asteroid hits us, all that will be left are Laker fans and cockroaches.