July 9, 2016, Las Vegas, NV – Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale stood outside the curtained-off area that served as his team’s locker room inside Cox Pavilion and stared at the final box score.
“Wow,” he said. After a pause, another “wow.”
There were several reasons for disbelief after a 106-62 shellacking handed the Grizzlies by the Denver Nuggets.
Chief among them was the fact that the Grizzlies shot 2 for 26 from the three-point line. If you don’t have a calculator handy, I’ll save you the trouble – 7.7%. Or about the same odds as taking down the house in Vegas.
The other “wows” had to do with a second quarter in which the Grizzlies shot 21% and the Nuggets 62%, turning a 28-all first quarter tie into a 27-point halftime lead. Denver led by as many as 45 points and won all the hustle categories: fastbreak points 24-11, second chance points 26-12 and paint points 50-32.
Turnovers, which was a area of disappointment with Fizdale following Friday’s win, dropped to a very acceptable 12, but 32% shooting from the floor and 61% from the line gave the Grizzlies no shot against the Nuggets, who were led by Jimmer Fredette with 26 points on 18 shots.
Afterwards Fizdale pointed to a lack of energy in the second quarter, a sentiment echoed by Wade Baldwin IV who led the Grizzlies with ten points but shot just 2 of 10 from the floor.
The backcourt duo of Andrew Harrison and Baldwin, which had excelled against the D-League Select team on Friday, failed to duplicate their performance with a combined 4 of 18 shooting effort. Harrison and Baldwin tried to attack the rim, but their forays to the hoop were often out of control, resulting in wild shots that failed to fall. And unlike Friday’s game, they didn’t set up their teammates and the Grizzlies offense devolved into too much one-on-one play.
The Grizzlies will practice Sunday morning in preparation for their Monday game (1 pm PT/3pm CT) against the Milwaukee Bucks. -- Pete Pranica
Follow Grizzlies TV Play-By-Play Announcer, Pete Pranica on Twitter @petepranica and on Instagram @petepranica. Stay tuned as Pete shares his perspective on the Grizzlies' performance at 2016 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas right here on Grizzlies.com.