Gametime: Grizzlies at Nuggets

Gametime

Final: Grizzlies 94, Nuggets 91 - March 11, 2012

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Key Stat of the Night

All three of Memphis' wins over Denver this season were by three or fewer points.

Key Run of the Night

Memphis went on a 14-1 tear to grab a 69-59 lead with 3:35 left in the third, their biggest lead to that point.

Player Notes

Mike Conley, who returned to play after suffering a cut above his right eye, had 13 points. Dante Cunningham added 12 points and Tony Allen 10 for the Grizzlies. In 12 career games, O.J. Mayo is averaging 19.6 points against the Nuggets, his second-highest average against any team in the league (WAS, 19.8 ppg).

O.J. Mayo (22 points, eight assists, three steals) led the Grizzlies' balanced scoring attack in a 94-91 road win over the Nuggets on Sunday night. Mike Conley added 13 points and seven assists while Dante Cunningham had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Highlight of the Night

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They said...

Coach Hollins

On hard fought win:

“That’s exactly what it was, hard fought. They just scratched and clawed and they grinded it out. They tried to pull away from us a couple of times and we just kept battling and got in foul trouble. Rudy Gay got hit in the head and couldn’t play anymore, Tony Allen gets in foul trouble, Marc [Gasol] gets in foul trouble, Mike [Conley] gets his eye cut and has to go sit out and get stitches and the guys just played extremely hard and they competed for 48 minutes tonight. We finally got a surge and got a 10 point lead and some fluky things happened down the stretch and we were able to hold on and win the game.”

On forcing turnovers and disrupting Denver offensively:

“We were just playing defense. We just played hard. It’s nothing that we were doing to disrupt them. We tried to play our pick-and-roll schemes and play our post-up schemes, our pin-down schemes and our guys just compete.”

On the bench’s contribution and O.J. Mayo:

“O.J. was super, he carried us tonight and he was the man. You had Dante [Cunningham] and [Quincy Pondexter] come off the bench and they all did big-time work. I was really upset at our guys early, I didn’t really take them out to rest them I took them out because we weren’t competing like I thought we should. As soon as that other group came in I thought they got us back in the game and I went back with the starters and they went right back in the hole again. I can see that I was going to need the bench a lot more tonight and they produced so that was good to see.”

O.J. Mayo

On starting the second half and keep his hot streak going:

“It was really important. I definitely did have it going as far as a rhythm. I was so mad, I had too many turnovers and I know how important it is when you’re playing the one to take care of the ball. I failed in that area. I’m happy he didn’t cost us a loss and we got the win.”

On advice from coach:

“He just said keep being aggressive. Keep making the right plays. That’s why he kept putting the ball in my hands, trying to make the right play every time. So many turnovers is totally unacceptable. Watch film, see what was up and I’ll definitely get better.”

On the bench and him carrying team:

“Not really, believe it or not, we have a team full of hard workers. It’s all about opportunities and rhythm, timing and everything and I thought everyone that got an opportunity tonight definitely played well. It was just one of those nights where it was on us to carry the load. Many nights it’s the first time that does a lot of the load carrying. No big deal, we are always waiting on the opportunities and I thought we did well tonight.”