Yes, that elusive little letter. Lemme see...I should know this one, since a large portion of my waking non-working hours are spent putting my son's magnetic letter toys back on the fridge...

YES! IT'S "D"! I got it!!!

It is, however, a real shame that the Grizzlies seem to have evicted that letter from their collective ready-file.

I've spent so much time picking up those little magnetic letters, that I'm just going to pick a few other letters and design this little rant around them.

 

First, we'll talk a bit more  about that "D" thing. Unfortunately, there's not much to discuss regarding it in connection to the Grizzlies' play. Yes, Ryan Gomes was just on fire in the first half-but a player doesn't catch fire without knowing that he's got open looks coming. Yes, Rudy, we're looking at you. Overemphasize on offense much? In the same boat was Mike Conley-finally a good shooting night for him, but he forgot the rest of the puzzle, as did  any other Grizzly who evidently forgot to read the report on Ramon Sessions. Sessions did whatever he wanted for himself in the lane and he did plenty for others too. 8-12 shooting and 6 asts for Sessions. OUCH. We all know that Marcus Williams will never be regarded as a defensive stopper-could Tinsley have done any better? Perhaps, but he's been so up and down that it likely would not have made much difference...since the Grizzlies' interior D looked just as bad again as it has over the recent Grizzly funk period (and that's not a description of the locker room music, either).

Next letter-"F", as in "free throw". Six of eight? Is that for one dang quarter?? Minnesota, as a team, was only put in a position to foul ten times over the whole game. Sure, the Grizzlies only committed sixteen, showing the matador-like tone of the game-but ten is a horribly low number for an offensively potent team like the Grizzlies to force. At least the FT-streaky Marc Gasol went 5-5. Too bad there were only three other FTA's taken for the game. Conley did make a couple nice trips to the hoop, and as we all know, a foul could be called on a play such as those, but it didn't happen. A large part of the struggles from the line this game was due to ZBo's increasingly-evident fatigue. He settled for outside shots too much. Not jacking threes like the ZBo of old, but just shooting that rainmaker from 15-17 feet. Sure, he can make them-but his 7-18 shooting line shows that he spent way too much time standing on unpainted hardwood. With any luck he'll get some rest over the break even though he's got some duties to which he must attend in Dallas :).

C is for communication. Yes, the Grizzlies have been slumping pretty hard-but it does not seem that the team has started to point fingers at one another. They're all tired out from playing too many minutes (OJ and ZBo in particular, it seems) and they all still know they're in the same boat, so the relationships among players still seem ok for now,but we should all be fearful of a splintering locker room if the near-tailspin continues after the ASB. They've all acknowledged the slump, including Hollins, but no strife visible or detectable as yet.

Just a quick one, as the aforementioned son is in full terrorize mode....but I'll be in attendance Tuesday for the much-anticipated return of Darrell Arthur at the Griz/Hawks game at FEF. A good team effort, win or lose, is absolutely imperative going into a week's rest. The Grizzlies will go into the ASB over .500, which is awesome-but will they be able to start reversing the recent disturbing trend?

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