Gametime: Grizzlies vs. Mavericks - February 27, 2013

Gametime

The Grizzlies scored the first 20 points of the third quarter to erase a 25-point deficit and defeat the Mavericks 90-84 at home Wednesday. Zach Randolph had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Marc Gasol added 21 and 12 for the Grizzlies, who have won eight straight games.

"After giving up 38 points in the first quarter, we outscored them 71-46, so our defense kicked in. Also offensively in the first half, Austin Daye came in and made a couple of shots to stop the bleeding a little bit. Q [Quincy Pondexter] hit one. Then the group we had in there coming down in the second quarter got some steals and got some run-offs. We just started attacking them. We made shots, and then they made a couple of turnovers.

I mean the play where we get to 55-42, they had the ball. We steal the ball. We go down there and get a layup, and instead of it being 15, it is 13. In the second half our guys came out, and they played with a sense of urgency defensively and offensively. We played quicker. We got up and down. We got into our sets quicker. We attacked. We scored. We scored 24-5 in the third quarter. You got to give them their due. They played well, and once we started putting pressure on them, their energy level was gone. They did play last night and thank God that they did. We held them 33 points in the last 29 minutes. We held them to 29 points in the second half, so our defense just got better and better and more aggressive. They just got us on our heels for awhile. Once they got on our heels, we got even more aggressive and got after them. I have never seen such a turnaround so quick. I mean I have seen turnarounds before but usually, you go down and go to overtime to the end of the game, but you know our defense was good.

We had 29 deflections. We had 21 assists on 29 field goals. We made our free throws in the second half. We didn’t really dominate on the offensive glass, but you know we dominated on the glass. We started holding them to one shot and we were able to just play through it. During a couple of timeouts I said you know we aren’t working. They are out working us. I also reminded them how we got to be a good team. When you are a good team, sometimes you take things for granted, but I said these are the things that you have to do to show that we are a good team. If we are capable to come back, we will. If not, at least we will play the way we are capable then. At halftime, we got it to 13, I told them we are back in the game. Whenever you are 25 or 26 and you get it back to 13, you have stemmed the momentum and turned it in your favor versus them staying at 20 or 22 and now you got a long walk back in the second half, and they are still feeling good about themselves. They didn’t feel good about the way the second half ended. Our first half didn’t, I’m sure. We felt good about ourselves. It just propelled us into the third quarter."

"We came out lackadaisical. We played like we had a back-to-back, honestly. Coach wasn’t having it. He called a time out quicker than he normally does and gave us another chance to go back out, but we couldn’t get it done. He brought in the bench and they gave us a spark. From there it was just a grind game all the way to the end. We have got to have better starts. We can’t give up leads like that because it will hurt us in the long run."

"That is just the mentality of our team. We grit and grind. We grinded back, got the lead and it was a great team win."

"I have to thank our defensive Coach, Coach Joerger. He does a good job of going over their offense. We paid attention to detail in the second half and got more aggressive. That’s what built it down the stretch."

"It was crazy. It was a crazy game from start to finish. I think we did a really good job standing our ground in the start of the second half. We are a good defensive team when we are locked in and focused."

"It is tough but as NBA players you have got to fight through and try to prove something to yourself when you are out there. We didn’t want to go out tonight and get blown out, especially going into Miami, which is a team that is rolling right now. This win gives us a lot of confidence going into Miami and we are looking forward to going down there."

"That played a big part in it. We were down 15 and Darrell (Arthur) got a steal and a dunk. You don’t see that too often in games at the end of a half. Also, Rick Carlisle was trying to stop our momentum. I think he called three timeouts in a seven minute period, you don’t see that often, so you know we were rolling."

"We do come out sluggish. We are going to have to buckle up. Every game, especially from now on, is so much more important. We can’t come out lackadaisical like that again. We communicate with each other and the best thing about tonight is that we fought through adversity together."

He came in with a great point. We were all sensing it as a team. We had all spoken as a team. He just came in a reiterated what we needed to do to bounce back from such a large deficit. We all collectively came together. We got the ball to the big fellas and they carried us away."