Gametime
Final: Grizzlies 93, Blazers 89 - April 21, 2012
Video Highlights
Locker Room Video
Key Stat of the Night
Memphis held Portland to .372 shooting (29-of-78 FG) for the game, marking the 12th time the Grizzlies have held an opponent to under .400 shooting this season.
Key Run of the Night
Trailing by 12 points (91-79) with 4:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, Portland went on a 10-0 run to cut Memphis’ lead to two points (91-89) with 32.5 seconds left in the game… Rudy Gay blocked a Wesley Matthews three-point attempt and O.J. Mayo made two free throws in the final seconds to push the lead up to four and hold off the Trail Blazers.
Player Notes
- With Zach Randolph out of the lineup, Marreese Speights finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds… Six of Speights’ 10 career double-doubles have come since joining Memphis this season.
- Dante Cunningham scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds… Cunningham averaged 10.5 points and 5.5 rebounds over the last two games against his two former teams (Portland and Charlotte).
- Rudy Gay finished with 21 points and six rebounds, leading the team in scoring for the seventh time in the last eight games.
Rudy Gay scored 21 points and had a key block in the final seconds as the Memphis Grizzlies won their fourth straight, 93-89 over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night.
Gay, who was 9 of 16 from the field, blocked Wesley Matthews' 3-point attempt with about 5 seconds left to seal the win and send the short-handed Trail Blazers to their fifth straight loss.
Highlight of the Night
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Game Notes
- With tonight’s win, Memphis moved within a half game of the Los Angeles Clippers for the fourth seed and a full game behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the third seed in the Western Conference Playoffs with two games to play… However, the Clippers and Lakers both hold tiebreakers over the Grizzlies.
- Memphis has won a season-high nine consecutive home games… If Memphis wins its remaining two home games this season, the team will tie its franchise-record 11-game home winning streak from Dec. 18, 2009-Jan. 25, 2010.
- With a 39-25 record (.609), Memphis is above the pace from last season, when the Grizzlies finished 46-36 (.561) in the regular season before their 2011 Playoffs run.
- The Grizzlies are 12-6 on the front end of a back-to-back and moved to 13-5 in the second game.
- Memphis has won eight of its last 10 games and 14 of its last 18.
- The Grizzlies dominated in the frontcourt, outscoring the Trail Blazers 58-32 in the paint.
Up Next:
- Grizzlies vs. Cavaliers, Monday, April 23, 7:00pm -Find Tickets.
They said...
Coach Hollins
On the Trail Blazers coming back in the second half:
“We kept taking jump shots, and they kept driving and getting free throws. In the end, they had 31 free throws to our 10. We just settled too much. We wouldn’t attack the basket, and it caught up to us.”
“I definitely don’t want to play guys a whole lot of minutes, but what are we going to do? Just shut down and then try to rev it up for the playoffs? I think we have to keep being consistent. Our focus on defense was good, and then all of the sudden, we started gambling and then we started fouling. Then the one group I had in there, they kept taking jump shots and wouldn’t throw the ball in the post.”
On Rudy Gay:
“I don’t know if it’s the best he’s played, but it’s the most consistent stretch he’s played. He showed me something tonight that was a little thing on the bench, and he went out and made amends by conversation. He then made a pass that he didn’t have to make just to take care of somebody. Those are the little things that go a long ways to being a really good teammate and making guys respect you more. He’s shown me a lot in that area as well.”
On Gilbert Arenas:
“His hand is fine. I just chose last night to go with a different group. Marc (Gasol) didn’t play in the fourth quarter, Zach (Randolph) didn’t play in the fourth quarter, Rudy (Gay) played the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, and Tony (Allen) didn’t play in the fourth quarter. The way it worked out, I wanted to go with a select group, and that’s the same thing tonight. I thought that one group was settling too much, so I had seen enough. I wanted to get back to a different group and see if we could attack the basket, and we did. We got a few layups, and we built the lead back up. At the end, we gave it back to them.”
On the Grizzlies schedule:
“We’ve played a lot of really good teams. We’ve played Oklahoma City, we’ve played Dallas twice, we went to Miami, and we played the Clippers at home. Those are the kind of games that these guys get up for. Then after we had that stretch of those teams, all of then sudden we get a stretch of a bunch of teams that aren’t in the playoffs. I can’t say we struggled. We haven’t been as focused to go out and dominate them, but we won the game and that’s also important.”
Lester Hudson
On being back:
“I'm back home. This is a great team and teammates.
On the team:
“Great organization, great coaching staff. Everyone is on the same page. I think we will make a good run.”
Mike Conley
On the team’s playoff position:
“Right now we are just worried about what we can do. What we can take care of, we can take care of and win these remaining games. Whatever happens on the outside happens between the Lakers and Clippers. How they finish out their seasons is up to them. We can only control what we can control. Of course you want to fight for it. That’s how we’re made up, but we want to be smart, and we want to be healthy going into the playoffs. We want to win these games with as much rest as we can get.”
On the team’s energy:
“Collectively I think we did have good energy. We had good focus. We got ourselves in a good position; we were up 15 or so points there for a little bit. We just couldn’t close it out and they started to come back in the fourth quarter. We had to put guys back in the game and try to finish it out.”
On the team’s identity:
“Our style has been in and out. We have so many different guys that can make so many different plays, it’s hard to establish one way or the other. We just have to adapt to the way teams are playing. Sometimes they take away Marc (Gasol) and Zach (Randolph) from down low and the perimeter guys are making plays. Some games we are in the post. I think it can help us or hurt us. We have to find a happy medium.”
On the team’s mindset going into the playoffs:
“It’s all about business. We’re trying to achieve our goals. We feel like we belong, we feel like we’re in a spot we’re supposed to be. We’re trying to make our run. This is the time of year we have to be prepared mentally and get our bodies healthy to go for the stretch.”