A big win + a paucity of posts during the recent long road trip = a rare four-point play of a post-game report:

1. Win of the Year: Tonight’s win over the Mavericks may not have been quite as surprising as the team’s big win at Portland last week, but I think it’s ultimately more impressive and more meaningful.

The Blazers followed their loss to the Grizzlies by getting blown out at Utah and then losing at home to Miami, so the Griz loss may have been part of a team slump. But tonight, the Grizzlies beat a near-elite (14-5 coming into the game, leading the Southwest Division) with an MVP-level star, and beat them soundly in front of a decent-sized home crowd.

Against the Blazers, the Grizzlies got a big lead and played tight, milking the clock too early, not getting great shots, and letting the Blazers cut into the lead. The Grizzlies held on, but the same thing happened two days later against the Clippers and the game fell apart.

There were signs of this tonight: The Grizzlies went up 17 with 7 minutes to play after a Rudy Gay three pointer, but coming out of a Dallas timeout the team seemed to settle into that familiar “playing not to lose” mold, milking clock without getting into the offense and getting good shots, and Dallas starting to creep up. A 9-4 Mavericks run over next two minutes cut the lead to 11 with 4:30 to play. But at this point, coach Lionel Hollins called a timeout and the Grizzlies came back with more aggression, going on a 8-0 run over the next 80 seconds — an O.J. Mayo 3, a Mike Conley 3, a Zach Randolph putback — to ice the game.

In many ways it was an ideal total game for the Grizzlies: They got O.J. Mayo involved early and he got into a shooting rhythm. Zach Randolph, after favoring his mid-range jumper too much on the road trip, got back to pounding the glass (9 offensive rebounds) and attacking defenders going to the basket instead of fading away. Though he had a few frustrating misses, Rudy Gay played a versatile game, scoring from long-range, mid-range, and at the rim and filling the stat sheet (18-6-3 with 3 “stocks” [“blocks + steals” — credit to Bill Simmons]). The bench contributed. The point guards were not terrible. The team defended the best opposing scorer smartly. They executed down the stretch. Great job all-around.