Grizzlies 103, Pacers 95 Post-Game Three-Pointer
1. O.J. Mayo Breaks Out: Through the first three pre-season games, rookie O.J. Mayo struggled a little with his shot, going 14-41 from the floor and 2-14 from three-point line, a string of performances that didn’t look much like the deadly shooter seen in summer league and again in practice. But he found his stroke tonight.
Mayo scored 26 points in 30 minutes on 10-17 shooting and 6-8 from downtown. Not only was every make a jumper, only one of the 17 attempts was from within seven feet of the basket, and it was technically a jumper.
Mayo got in such a groove tonight, raining so many jumpers from all over the court, that it hit me with a bit of nostalgia for this beloved sneaker commercial from my childhood:
At some point this season, I’m certain, fans are going to start yelling “layup!” when Mayo, in the flow, rises up for a 25-footer.
Mayo didn’t just shred the Pacers with jumpers tonight, he also played staunch on-ball defense and used his quickness to nab 5 steals, at least a couple of them leading to fastbreak conversions at the other end.
But, while tonight showed Mayo’s strengths, it also showed his weaknesses. Mayo didn’t convert a single basket in the paint and didn’t attempt a single free throw. When he has gone to the hole this preseason, his relative lack of explosiveness has been apparent. He’ll need to diversify his game over time, but for this season I suspect Mayo’s offense may revolve around his jump shot, leading to a rookie season that, on the offensive end, may look a lot like Ben Gordon’s a couple of years ago. (On the defensive end, Mayo will be much better.) This means we’ll see a lot of games like tonight from Mayo this year. We’ll also see lot of games like Friday, when he went 5-17 and 1-7 from three.
2. The New Ivory Towers: For the second straight game, the Grizzlies started Marc Gasol and Darko Milicic together and got pretty decent results. Head coach Marc Iavaroni didn’t give any clues in his post-game press conference about whether this will carry over into the regular season, but it’s clearly a pairing the team is looking at closely.
Oddly, it seemed to help the team more offensively than defensively. Having Gasol gives the team a playmaker in the frontcourt, while NOT having Hakim Warrick and his shot-happy approach in the starting lineup allowed the team to funnel more shots to its best players, Mayo, Rudy Gay, and Mike Conley. Warrick might be a better fit with this team as instant offense off the bench, which would surely be his ideal NBA role.
Gasol had another striking game, putting up 14 points, 10 boards, and 4 assists in 35 minutes. Gasol’s limitations are serious — a lack of foot speed that hurts on defending drives (Rasho Nesterovic blew by him for a reverse layup), rebounding out of his area, and making quick moves on the block — but purely physical. In terms of effort and skill, he’s a terrific basketball player, with a strong face-up shot, some viable post moves, a willingness to play physical, great court awareness, and terrific passing skills. The Grizzlies ran a lot of offense through Gasol tonight both from the high post and on the block and he was able to create shots for himself and teammates at an impressive rate.
3. Regular Season Rotations: As has been the norm so far, the Grizzlies featured a starting lineup that could go opening night and played them significant minutes. Compare this to a Pacers squad that sat three likely starters (Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy, and Troy Murphy). Iavaroni doesn’t seem to be using his preseason to gradually get his top players ready to go, but seems to be using it as a serious time to get his core group playing on the same page. With so many young players, so many new players, and so much apparent pressure to be competitive out of the gate, this seems smart, but you have to wonder about the lack of on-court time for development projects like Hamed Haddadi, Darrell Arthur (sure to get more run going forward), and especially Javaris Crittenton, who got a DNP-CD tonight.
The Jacob Riis Report: Remember how lumbering Georgetown center Roy Hibbert was supposed to be too big and slow to make it in the NBA, especially with an uptempo team like the Pacers. Well, Hibbert looked like an entirely different person tonight. He’s clearly lost a ton of weight and got up and down the floor well. He showed a nice touch around the hoop and, more surprisingly, was really active defensively and on the boards, to the tune of 17 points, 9 boards, and 3 blocks on 6-9 shooting off the bench. Hibbert looked good, but seeing another rookie center (following the Wizards’ JaVale McGee) go off against the Grizzlies is troubling.
Deflections:
Michael Conley’s improved three-point shooting late last season seems to be carrying over. Conley is 6-11 from three through four preseason games.
Former coach and current ace broadcaster Doug Collins was in the house tonight, sitting next to GM Chris Wallace. The grapevine says that Collins is a friend of Iavaroni’s and was in town to attend practice, watch the game, and act as a sounding board.
The team twice ran alley-oop plays coming out of a timeout, connecting on both. A good sign for what has been shaky offensive execution.
Rudy Gay’s tomahawk put-back jam off Conley’s desperation three-pointer was perhaps one of the most spectacular Grizzlies plays ever.
