 Memphis Grizzlies
VS
Boston Celtics
Mar. 10th, 2010
7:30 PM ET
As the regular season continues to wind down, we find two teams in
very different positions primed for battle, as the Memphis Grizzlies
take on the Boston Celtics. It’s the Haves versus the Have-Nots. The
most historic franchise in the NBA versus the second youngest. With
that said, Memphis has been one of the true surprises of the season,
managing to remain in the discussion for the final playoff spot in the
Western Conference. Not bad for a team that had the second-worst
record in the league last year. On the other hand, the Celtics need no
introduction. Two years removed from a championship, Boston is once
more among the beasts in the Eastern Conference. While a number one
overall seed isn’t out of the question, this veteran laden unit needs
to concentrate on getting healthy. Time is running out on Memphis, and
Boston hasn’t exactly been playing all that well (I.E. a 96-104 loss at
home to the lowly Nets last week), but these diametric opposites should
make for an interesting matchup.
One of the best stories in the NBA this season has been the dramatic
improvement of the Memphis Grizzlies. A year removed from owning the
second-worst record in the league, the Grizzlies are a surprising
33-31, and are four games out of the final playoff spot in the Western
Conference. Obviously, great coaching is responsible for the
turnaround, but don’t discount sudden maturation. The Grizzlies are
one of the league’s youngest teams, with four out of five of their
starters owning four or less years of experience. In fact, not one
starter is over the age of 30. Yes, these kids are all growing up at
the same time, and the fans in Memphis couldn’t be more thrilled. Rudy
Gay (19.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 steals), Marc Gasol (15.0 points,
9.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals, 1.6 blocks), and OJ Mayo (17.5 points, 3.8
rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.2 steals) have really improved their play, and
the team has flourished as a result. Even third-year point guard Mike
Conley (10.7 points, 5.2 assists, 1.3 steals), who some scouts feared
would never make it as a starter at the position has evolved into a
quality point man. With that said, voices around the league attribute
the team’s success to the vastly improved Zach Randolph. The old man
on the roster (he’s only 28) has really cleaned up his character and
work ethic, and has responded with arguably his finest season,
averaging 20.8 points and a career-high 11.8 rebounds. Before the
season began, nobody thought that Randolph would have been capable of
leading such a young team, but he has clearly proven his detractors
wrong thus far. As a young, athletic group, the Grizzlies get up and
down the floor with ease, scoring 102.0 points on an efficient 47.0%
shooting, and do a very good job on the boards, outrebounding their
opponents by a margin of 4.4 boards per game. However, they are not
without their faults. Memphis is not an effective three-point shooting
team, knocking down just 33.5% of their attempts from beyond the arc.
In fact, Mayo and Conley are the only players on the roster to shoot
over 32.0% from the three. They aren’t particularly deep either, but
that really isn’t that much of a problem due to the overall youth of
this unit. With fresh legs, who needs a bench right? Well, either
way, management acquired former Jazz forward Ronnie Brewer to augment a
second unit that has been pretty thin this season.
Did somebody say fresh legs? That’s what the Boston Celtics are
asking for as one of the league’s supremely talented teams is once
again coping with another injury-plagued season. Both Paul Pierce and
Kevin Garnett have missed at least ten games with an assortment of
ailments, not to mention a number of players off the bench. Head coach
Doc Rivers has stated repeatedly that he doesn’t care if his team gets
home court advantage, for he just wants his team to be healthy come
playoff time. At 40-21, the Celtics own the third seed in the Eastern
Conference at the moment, when given how many injuries they have had to
deal with has proven to be a testament to just how talented they
really are. But how have they been effected by all those games missed?
Defensively they are simply no longer an imposing unit. Nobody is
scared of them anymore, and it reflects in the stats. While giving up
a respectable 93.8 points per game, opponents are shooting 44.5% from
the field, and are outrebounding them by a margin of 0.5 boards per
game. That last number is remarkable when you consider the fact that
the team has players such as Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, Rasheed
Wallace, and Glenn Davis in the paint, who are all capable of averaging
a double-double. The defensive end isn’t the only end of the court
where the Celtics have been lagging, for they have really tailed off
from the perimeter. Boston led the league in three-point percentage
over the past two seasons, but is only shooting an average 34.9% from
downtown, and that was before they shipped three-point specialist Eddie
House out of Beantown in a trade that brought back the diminutive Nate
Robinson. Only Pierce (43.9% 3FG) and Ray Allen (35.2% 3FG) are viable
threats from distance, and defenses tend to take at least one of them
away each game. The bench has also been a underachieving group, which
is very questionable when you look at players such as Wallace, Davis,
and Robinson sitting on the sidelines. So once again, the Celtics are
a team that will live and die on the strength of starting lineup, which
really isn’t that bad for the simply fact that their starting five is
so talented, particularly point guard Rajon Rondo. The young point
guard has blossomed into one of the best at the position, averaging
career highs in points (14.1), assists (9.9), and steals (2.5). The
only question is that while they have enough firepower to position
themselves comfortably in the playoffs, do they have enough to get back
to the Finals? Time will tell.
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