I am so tired of people screaming bloody murder about the need for the Grizzlies to do something fast in regards to beefing up their bench.

The truth of the matter is that there is not one single player out there that will come off the bench and enable the Grizzlies to win a 7 games series against Denver, Utah, Dallas or LA and those four teams look like a lock to secure home court advantage right now. Sure Kobe, LeBron, Dwade or someone like that but not anyone the Grizzlies can afford or who would be willing to come here.

FACE REALITY PEOPLE! Ronnie Brewer can't get the Grizzlies past those teams as a bench player and he is the best option I have heard so far. CDR? Nice player and a home town connection which could put butts in the arena but is he going to be the player who gets us past Denver or Dallas? I don't think so.

The reality is that missing the playoffs might actually work out best in the long run for the Grizzlies anyway. Sure the fans want to see the Grizzlies win a playoff game but they aren't going to advance this season. Wouldn't it make more sense to acquire another lottery pick and then next season be in a stronger position to get past the first round of the playoffs?

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.

5-game-set perspective on the season.

Ouch, that hurts.  The Grizzlies went 1-4 in their 5-game-set for the first time since their first 8 games of the season.  Terrible? Of course.  Like the Grizzlies of old?  I don't think so.  Too early to put that mantra on them.

It is not time to panic.  Is it?  Matthew Noe in his post game analysis calls it a slump and a funk.  After all good teams like good players come out of a slump.  Rudy seems to be coming out of his by going for 27 points on 13-18 shooting (1-2 on 3PM-A) and 8 boards against Minnesota.  Let's keep our collective chins up.  Our big bears are playing 640% ball over the last 25 games.

Of course, as Hollins has alluded about playing in the NBA, it doesn't get any easier the next game.  The next five games have 4 playoff contenders in it. The collective winning percentage of the teams for the next five games is 0.490 (because of NJ's 0.08%) but the four contenders have a 0.593 winning percentage.  So, either the Grizzlies pick up their game or ? ? ? ?

Check out the 5-game-set schedule below.

These records are being kept because O. J. Mayo in his NBA post-game interview after the Cleveland win said that Coach Hollins divided the season into 5 game sets.

...s-l-u-m-p. Yep, I said it, it's time. It's been quite  a while since the Grizzlies really cut loose on offense, and tonight did nothing to change that.

It's well-known around the NBA that the Rockets have been playing above their collective hustling little heads all season, and the Grizzlies have enjoyed (?) that same treatment to some degree from the national press.

"Enjoy", however, was the last word that any Grizzlies fan would use to describe this  "game".

So just what went wrong?

An ardent supporter of the hometown team should go to a game prepared to take offense, no matter what happens.
  - Robert Benchley

Memphis fans have been called Miserables...by the Univeristy of Memphis' coach at the time no less.

Memphis fans were ridiculed by the NFL for failing to support the Oilers/Titans despite the highest ticket prices in the country and the team doing nothing to endear themselves with the community.

Memphis fans have been called out for failing to support the NBA and it seems every couple of months a major periodical will come out with a story saying why the Grizzlies should be moved.

But just how bad are Memphis fans? Are they not loyal? Are they different from any other city in the country?

As was reported last night during the Grizzlies-Cavs game and confirmed today, Darrell Arthur is cleared for full-contact workouts with the team. It is anticipated according to the Commercial Appeal that Arthur will be practicing on Thursday with the team.

This is ahead of schedule for Darrell and a positive development for the team's bench which has been struggling this season without any seasoned veterans off the bench. Darrell has only one season of experience but he did start the majority of games last season.

Ooooof. That's gonna leave a mark. We all know that even an upstart team experiencing some success like the Grizzlies is subject to the occasional beatdown, and the second consecutive night of facing one of the NBA's two best players is as likely a time for that to happen as any.  

A loss like this can be instructive, but it's just not the way that any of the team (or any of us, for that matter) want to learn anything. But it happened.

Several items point to exactly why this turned out the way it did.....

The Grizzlies two biggest believers amongst the power ranking guys are John Schuhmann @ NBA.com and John Galinsky @ FoxSports.com.

Surprisingly, two of the lowest rankings came from the computer guys: Jeff Sagarin @ USAToday.com and John Hollinger @ ESPN.com.  I know that their rankings are suppose to be unbiased but I don't understand how the Grizzlies can beat Hollinger's #1 team and drop two spots and have their score go up only .21.  Go figure!?

I hope you are a believer that the Grizzlies are one of the better teams the way they are playing.  They are 25-13 since their 1-8 start.  That's a .658 winning percentage which would put them them playing at 6th best in the NBA and 4th in the Western Conference.

Check out all the comments and this week's rankings by clicking on read more.