What I learned from Clips at Grizz

Tonight I was sitting in my room, watching the Grizz on NBA League Pass Broadband, and I was frustrated. Grizz were down 65-52 at half, and Baron Davis already had 17-9-9. My hopes for the Grizz were grim. My buddies invited me to go see a late movie, but I had to say no. For a reason unknown, I had a good feeling about the rest of the game. Then, the strangest thing I had ever seen in an NBA game happens: The Clippers t.v. announcers report that everyone must evacuate the building because of an emergency and then the coverage of the game shuts off. Being a native Memphian, I fear for the worst. Thoughts of bomb threats and guns filled my mind, but thank God, it was only a water main breaking. The players filled the media buses for 35 minutes before the game started back, but the Clippers never really got back off the bus. They took a 11 point lead into the stoppage, but that lead diminished quickly.

In my opinion, the Grizzlies played three quarters of uninspired, bad basketball, but the Clips let us hang around. Our scorers took that chance and made the best of it outscoring the Clippers 25-12 in the fourth quarter.

All the craziness aside, I learned a lot about our Grizzlies:

1. We're tired. We have had a brutal schedule so far in the season, already playing games in all four time zones. We had a two day rest before today's game, but we need more than that. Our young team is experiencing bumps and bruises as we are right in the middle of the 82 game NBA grind.

2. We need depth at the forward positions. Z-bo and Rudy both played 42+ minutes tonight, and that is going to hurt us down the road. As much as I thought I would never say this, we need Darrell Arthur back badly.

3. The Grizz won't die. A theme of the new Grizz is that we just don't give up. Almost every game, we show our youth and have a quarter where we forget we're playing NBA basketball, but somehow we usually fight back. This refusal to go away shows our growing maturity as a team. This is the first Grizzly team that I have ever seen that can respond to adversity and compete through the whole game.

4. Z-Bo is an All-Star. We've been saying it. ESPN is finally saying it. Let's make it happen

Tonight was a crazy night for the Grizz and Grizz Nation, but the bottom line is we came away with a win. In years past, tonight's game was a loss, but this year is different. The Grizzlies are continuing to get better and continuing to excite me.