The Grizzlies ran out of gas in the fourth quarter last night, playing their third game in three days and fifth game in six days on the road against defending champions who really needed that win as they look toward a road-heavy finish.
The Grizzlies couldn’t find the energy and chemistry in the fourth quarter this time, especially after Tony Allen hit the deck and then the locker room after an inadvertent elbow from O.J. Mayo opened a gash in his mouth that required stitches. The Grizzlies had already lost a fourth-quarter lead with a 10-0 Mavs run in the middle of the quarter, while Allen was on the bench. Trailing by three with five minutes left when Allen headed back to the locker room, the Grizzlies then watched the Mavs go on another 9-0 run to put the game away.
Merely losing a game in this situation, given the schedule and the opponent, isn’t that big a deal. More troubling are a couple of trends that continued in the game:
After a good first quarter — 3-4 shooting and active transition play on both ends highlighted by breaking up a 2-on-1 break and blocking a shot at the rim after forcing Dallas to reset — Rudy Gay wilted as the game wore on, finishing with 8 points on 4-12 shooting with 2 rebounds.