The Lead: The Grizzlies avenged their 100-99 home loss to the Blazers back in mid-November with an ugly, hard-fought 86-73 win. The Blazers were certainly not in top shape, coming in on the second half of a back-to-back road set and with their ostensible best player, Brandon Roy, in bad shape. But this was still a good win for the Grizzlies. It moves the team to 11-14 and within one game of the now 12-13 Blazers for 8th seed in the Western Conference.
Most interesting was how Lionel Hollins used his roster tonight, giving significant minutes to both Tony Allen and O.J. Mayo — including using them together at times — and playing match-ups and offensive/defense switches effectively. It was probably the best game management I’ve seen from the Grizzlies this season.
It’s also the second game in a row in which Mayo and Allen have figured prominently and the team has won, which could be — and should be — a sign of things to come if this team is going to make a playoff run. Mayo and Allen have been the two most underutilized players on the team this season. If these two games are more than just a blip and the team is ready to make good use of both, then the Grizzlies could be ready to make a strong push.
Man of the Match: After a slightly sluggish start to the season, Zach Randolph is back in beast mode. Randolph put up a game high 25 points and 20 rebounds tonight, his second 20-20 game of the season, and he’s averaged 26 points and 17 rebounds in the current three-game winning streak. Portland power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been a match-up problem for Randolph in the past with his combination of length and deft shooting, but Aldridge’s mid-range game wasn’t much of a factor tonight, as he hit only 1-2 outside the paint and scored only 13 points overall. Randolph just outworked Aldridge tonight, and on both ends: Randolph matched his season-high with 3 steals.