Memphis at Boston - 3.10.10

Written by Chip Crain

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:30

Memphis has a 6 game road winning streak riding on this game. A win against the Celtics could reignite the Grizzlies fading playoff hopes not to mention continue the Grizzlies franchise best road winning streak. For some reason however it would seem appropriate if the Grizzlies break the winning streak the first game after breaking the losing streak. This team has been consistently breaking our hearts the day after warming them all season. Zach Randolph missed the Nets game with a stiff back but all signs point to Z-Bo being ready for Beantown and the Celtics. Rudy Gay led the Grizzlies at the end of the game and seemed to make every important shot as the Grizzlies held off the Nets.

Boston is an enigma this season. They beat the Lakers in LA but lost to New Jersey at home all in the last month. Things don't get more enigmatic than that. The Celtics play at Milwaukee on Tuesday night so leg fatigue may be an issue for this very veteran team. Kevin Garnett is still the emotional leader with Paul Pierce and Ray Allen providing a formidable combination of inside-outside power but the play of Rajon Rondo has had the most encouraging impact for the future of the Celtics. Boston knows the team is nearing the end of the run for this squad and has only one championship to show for it. It is unlikely that the Celtics, who are very strong on back to back sets, will overlook the Grizzlies in front of the home crowd where the Celtics are surprisingly average at 18-11.

Position Breakdown:

Conley Rondo
Point Guards: Mike Conley vs Rajon Rondo
Two of the fastest PGs in the league today square off in this battle. However only one of them plays like it every night. Rondo is averaging 14.1 ppg and 9.9 apg this season. Conley is averaging 10.6 ppg and 5.3 apg which are comparable to Rondo's career numbers but far short of his play this year. Conley needs to be extremely careful with the ball around Rondo who is one of the best defensive PG's in the league and that may take away from Conley's offensive game since confidence in his ability has not been a hallmark in Conley's game lately.
Advantage: Boston

Allen
Shooting Guards: O J Mayo vs Ray Allen
14 year NBA veteran Ray Allen still has one of the sweetest and fastest releases in the NBA. To watch his jump shot is a thing of beauty. Unless of course that jump shot is dropping a dagger into your heart like he did at the Grizzlies last month...again. Allen has been one of the premier SG's in the league that last 10 years but that run may be ending as Allen turns 35 this summer and one has to wonder how long the shooting touch will remain. Allen is shooting near his career low on 3 pt attempts (35.2%) and while still respectable it is a far cry from the 41% he hit last season. Mayo has been inconsistent, especially at the free throw line lately which could be a result of the enormous amount of minutes he has logged this season. Mayo needs to find his leg strength to make his outside shot to punish teams that double down on the Grizzlies bigs for the team to be successful.
Advantage: Boston

Rudy Gay Pierce

Small Forwards: Rudy Gay vs Paul Pierce
Rudy Gay wants to be considered (and paid) like one of the best SF's in the league. In this matchup he gets to face one who's game he matches up well against. Pierce is now 32 years old and has taken a lot of physical abuse in his 12 NBA seasons. Pierce has relied more and more on his 3 pt shooting to compensate for his lack of driving desire. Hitting 44% this season from beyond the arc has helped Pierce get away with it too. Pierce has been struggling with a sore thumb latelyand has been inconsistent in the games he has been back scoring a high of 27 but also scoring only 9 points twice in the four games (all Celtics wins). Rudy is not scoring with the frequency he did earlier in the season but has picked up his rebounding and defense during the scoring lull to help the team win. This is something Gay needs to show he is capable of doing more of as he matures.
Advantage: Boston

Z-Bo
Power Forwards: Zach Randolph vs Kevin Garnett
KG is playing like Bill Murray's character in Stripes. When asked why he always seemed to be in the back Murray replied "I'm pacing myself sir." Is that what KG is doing or is he just getting older? Garnett hasn't scored this low since his rookie season and his rebouinding is just ahead of his rookie season as well. Despite the numbers this is still Garnett's team. The tall and strong PF is exactly the type of player that gives Randolph fits defensively and KG loves to play defense. In the first matchup against Memphis KG scored 13 pts and grabbed 8 rebounds while Randolph scored 20 pts but only grabbed 5 rebounds. That's total not on the offensive glass. Memphis needs to win the battle of the boards to have a chance in this game. For that to happen Z-Bo needs to be the monster on the boards he usually is.
Advantage: Memphis

Gasol Gasol
Centers: Marc Gasol vs Kendrick Perkins
Perkins, the former Grizzlies draft pick traded on draft night with Marcus Banks for Dahntay Jones and Troy Bell is the only player in that trade starting in the NBA today. Interesting since he was the last of the four to be drafted. Perkins has been an average NBA center this year scoring 10.8 ppg and grabbing 7.8 rpg. Gasol continues to impress on the other hand with a big game against Tim Duncan and the Spurs in a losing effort. Gasol averages just under 15 ppg and his 9.4 rpg means he is a constant threat to post a double-double which he has done 27 times this season ranking him 15th in the league. Gasol has a more varied offensive game that could cause Perkins trouble. Perkins fouled out the last time the teams met but did a good job of keeping Gasol off the glass in the game.
Advantage: Memphis

Sam Young Daniels
Benches: Memphis vs Boston
Memphis' starters were just starting to believe in themselves when these teams met the first time and they came away from that loss with a determination that spread into 11 straight home wins. However Boston was without Marquis Daniels and Nate Robinson in that game and their presence now means Boston has a much deeper bench which will give their starters more time to rest. Add in Michael Finley and Glen Davis and the Boston bench could be one of the best heading into the playoffs this year. Memphis' bench gets Hasheem Thabeet back from his Dakota D-League assignment but has very little actual help for the starters. Marcus Williams, Hamed Haddadi and Darrell Arthur all have improved over the players who's jobs they took but are still a long way from being considered help for the starters. DeMarre Carroll played well against the Nets as did the bench in general which is encouraging heading to the Garden.