Cavaliers 105, Grizzlies 89

If you are a sports fan (or if you are in touch with the popular sayings and adages of society), you have heard of a moral victory. Now before you keep reading, I am not saying that a 16-point loss is a moral victory. No; last night's game against LeBron and the Cavs was both a moral and physical loss. We shot 38%, gave up 64 points in the paint, our All-Star contributed 8 points and 4 rebounds on 3-14 shooting and we shot a woeful 14% from beyond the arc. There is no debating that the Grizzlies lost in every way possible last night.

When I reference the phrase "moral victory," I am referring to our last two games, when we went 1-1. Is 1-1 good for this Grizzlies team, one that has come so far this season and is in position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2006? Normally, I would say no. But is 1-1 good when those two games are against the two best teams in the NBA, on back-to-back nights, and both home and away? YES!! 1-1 is good, when one of those victories is against the Los Angeles Kobes and one of those losses is against the Cleveland LeBrons. Would I be happy if the Grizzlies went 1-1 against the Nets and Timberwolves? Of course not. But to go 1-1 against the cream of the NBA crop is something different and that's something I'll take any day.

Now I know what you're all saying: "But the loss dropped us out of a playoff spot and now we're tied for 9th in the West!!!" I would like to point something out: the Memphis Grizzlies are a mere four games out of the 3rd spot (that's right! 3rd!) in the Western Conference. The West is a deep and talented conference. If the Grizzlies keep playing the way we've been playing (like winning 13 of 19), we will be just fine. As the old coaching saying goes, "we can't control what any other team is doing. We can only control ourselves." If the Grizzlies keep controlling themselves, everything will be just fine.

Stay tuned for for analysis on Friday's game against the Rockets and keep living the Grizz Life.

Owen

Come Live the GrizzLife with Me

Jumpstop: Trip’s over man, Wood dropped out.

Big Shot: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Michael Edwards: Germans?

Jumpstop: Forget it, he’s rolling.

Big Shot: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough… the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!

Big Shot runs to the car while Michael and Jumpstop hang back

Big Shot: What the f happened to the Grizz fans I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest trip of our lives, but you’re gonna let it not happen. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bob, we might crash and die.” Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna let this happen! Kevin Love, he’s a dead man! Al Jefferson, dead! Brian Cardinal…

Jumpstop: Dead! Big Shot’s right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta go support the Grizz against these bastards. Now we could do it conventionally and fly, but the flight could get cancelled and cost a lot of money. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid drive be made to watch our Grizzlies.

Big Shot: We’re just the guys to do it.

Michael: Let’s do it.

Big Shot: Let’s do it!

Memphis fans, you might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner. I tend to think of myself as one-man caravaner. But when Jumpstop suggested a road trip to Minneapolis, I knew he was one of my own. And my caravan… it grew by one. So there… there were two of us making a road-trip. I was driving places alone first, and then Jumpstop joined in later. And a week later, when Jumpstop suggested that Michael and Taylor come, I thought, “Wait a second, could it be?” And then I knew for sure, I had just added two more guys to my caravan. Four of us drivers were going to be driving through the Midwest to watch the Grizzlies, looking for Waffle Houses and caffeine pills!

But then tragedy struck: we lost Taylor, a casualty of an unexpected work-load. We can make this trip three-handed, and will if necessary, but a fourth would be ideal. Grizzlies fans, I offer you a rare opportunity to live the GrizzLife. If you can either be in Memphis at midnight on Friday or Nashville at 4 AM Saturday morning, we would love for you to be the fourth member of our Grizzly road-trip. I can offer you a free meal on the road, and all you will have to do is split the cost of gas with the other three of us, pay 20 dollars for your third-row seat, and take your shifts on the drive. E-mail me at robert.d.hoehn@vanderbilt.edu if you are interested.

Come and live the GrizzLife with me, you won't regret it.

Big Shot Bob

Grizz vs. China

I’m not surprised, I’m not shocked, and I’m not overly impressed by our win over the Lakers last night. This is what good teams do: they bounce back from losing streaks, they protect home-court, and they play hard with a playoff berth in mind; and we are now, sitting in 8^th place in the West as winners of 12 of the past 13 games at the Forum, undoubtedly, a good team.

Unfortunately, I was not able to watch the game last night as Hyeok Jeong, my Chinese Economics professor, clearly not understanding how important it was for me to watch this game as 1/6^th of a Grizzlies blog with 19 followers, had assigned his weekly 6-hour long (I wish I were exaggerating) problem set teaching me how foorish Americans were with our weak economy, producing a meager two percent growth rate compared to China’s ten. Irritated and tired sitting in Hyeok’s class as I type this entry fading in and out of his broken-English lecturing on the GDP price deflator and relative price changes, wishing that he had slipped on some ice outside and not made it to class, I have suddenly realized that he as a proud Chinese and I as a Grizzlies fan are not so different.

While Memphis is the second-youngest team in the league, hungry for a playoff birth, China has a young industrialized economy and hungry citizens (you don’t have a great GDP-per-capita over there, Hyeok. That’s right, I made an economics joke, I go to Vanderbilt and I am a nerd).

We are both ecstatic about our growth, occasionally forgetting that there is so much improvement because of how awful China’s economy and the Grizzlies have been. I am thrilled that we may double our win total from last season, a staggering 100% improvement, but I am sometimes forgetful in my exuberance that having twice as many wins as last year may still leave us out of the playoffs. Hyeok loves to brag about China’s growth and how much China has improved recently, but he seems to forget that they are just beginning to emerge from years of strict Communism and extreme poverty, while still completely lacking basketball knowledge, evidenced by the China effect almost leading to Tracy McGrady playing in the All-Star game.

We both have critics who wish to detract from our success by telling us that it is not worth getting excited about. Hyeok has “arrogant” Americans, such as myself, (the French may call us arrogant, but really it’s just accurate self-assessment) writing condescendingly about China and shows such as South Park poking fun at the Chinese. As a Memphis fan, I must deal with Lakers, Celtics, and Mavs fans at school looking down on me for being excited about 8^th place, while Bill Simmons attacks either individual Grizzlies’ players, the great city of Memphis, Chris Wallace, or Michael Heisley (maybe that’s justified at times, he is one of SI’s bottom 3 owners in the NBA) at least once per mailbag and twice per NBA column.

Those people need to realize that the Grizz have great young players and will, provided that Heisley doesn’t have a fire sale following this season’s success a la the Florida Marlins following their World Series years, be a force to be reckoned with as our stars come into their own and as we add depth through the draft. China’s critics are right though: it’s impoverished, its growth rate means nothing, it will never have more than one good NBA player at a time, Chinese gymnasts are cheaters, and its government is corrupt.

Go Grizz! Go ‘Merka!

Announcement: Jumpstop Montague, Michael Edwards (one of The GrizzLife's biggest fans), Taylor Wood (coming because I promised him a free meal at a mid-western Waffle House), and I will be spending 31 of 40 hours on the road from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon in order to witness approximately 6 hours of greatness. We will drive to Memphis Friday afternoon and watch that night as the Grizzlies play Houston, attempting to win their 13^th home game of the past 14, and then leave Memphis at approximately 3:30 AM to make the trip to the ‘Sota so we can get rowdy in the Target Center, driving back to Nashville immediately following the game to do what Vandy students do: homework. A special thanks to Mr. Staley Cates for providing us with Grizzlies gear that will be proudly sported at the Forum and in Minneapolis. I personally will be frantically waving one of the flags as we show the 11-38 T-Wolves how big a mistake it was to give OJ to the Grizz in a draft-day deal. Thank you for helping us live the Grizzlife.

Big Shot Bob

Thoughts

There's a popular saying that talks about "going out of the frying pan and into the fire." After going 2-2 against the Magic, Pistons, Spurs and Hornets (the frying pan), the Memphis Grizzlies entered the "fire" section of a brutal pre-All Star stretch of games: games against the Lakers, Cavaliers, and Hawks.

Last night, the Grizz and Lakers squared off in a game that was supposed to be all about the Lakers. They were coming off a nationally-televised win over the Celtics, Kobe Bryant was trying to move ahead of Jerry West as the franchise's all-time leading scorer and the Lakers were trying to separate themselves from the rest of the NBA pack. However, someone forgot to tell the Grizzlies. Although Kobe got his record (by pouring in 44 points), Memphis spoiled the party as they pulled out a 95-93 victory. Zach Randolph proved he is worthy of his All-Star selection by scoring 22 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Thanks to 49 team rebounds and 42 points in the paint, the Grizzlies remained in a playoff spot in the West. Although they sit at 8th place, there is a 3-team tie for 5th place and if the Grizzlies can weather the storm of a tough schedule, the playoffs are a realistic accomplishment.

Facing Memphis tonight are the formidable Cleveland Cavaliers. Normally, I would say we have no chance. It's a road game, we played a game last night, they are one of the NBA's elite teams, etc. But this team is different. After seeing us beat the Lakers, I believe that anything is possible for this team. Although I won't be able to watch the game tonight (Lost is on), I will be there in spirit.

Fear the Grizz,

Owen

They say that time heals everything.

I think that by time, they mean two years.

I still remember the afternoon of February 1, 2008. It was my last semester of high school, and everything was going right...except the Grizzlies.

A soft, anything-but defensive-minded Grizz team was suffering through Marc Iavaroni's first season, and things were only getting worse as Pau was coming back from an injury and playing anything-but inspired basketball.

The groans and the trade demands were resounding. Memphis fans didn't really know what they wanted, but they knew they were sick of losing. If that meant giving up the franchise player for...well...just because...than so be it.

And so, the front office complied, inexplicably trading away Pau Gasol--two weeks before the trade deadline--for...nothing. And if you think St. Jude is the most chariatable operation in Memphis, I would have nominated the Grizzlies' front office that year. "The Pau Donation" was as charitable as it gets.

And don't tell me, Sean Touhy, Pete Pranica, Heisley, Wallace, etc. that it looked like a great move at the time. That you saw Marc Gasol turning into a premier NBA center. That you felt that you could bait the Wizards into trading for Javaris CrittenGUN.

Because I didn’t either, but I’m glad it worked out.

Two years, and lots of cap-space-clearing, salary-dumping, under the league minimum-spending, and losing, later, here we are. Still in Memphis, in the playoff race, and finally, finally…relevant.

Time has healed a lot of things for this franchise. Disenchantment has become enchantment, and hopelessness has become hope.

It is a story of redemption, more than anything.

And so, this past Monday, two years removed from that fateful day, Kobe made history and the Grizzlies continued the mending process. Marc Gasol outplayed Pau, and a hometown hero made the sell-out crowd (believe it) go crazy.

By Marc Gasol’s beard, it was beautiful.

Living the GrizzLife, one game at a time.