LOS ANGELES – The addition of Jeff Green to the already lethal Memphis Grizzlies has now made them one of the best teams in the NBA.
Green proved that on Monday night when he scored 16 points and added 6 rebounds to lead Memphis over the Los Angeles Clippers. 90-87.
“You have to give credit to him [Green], for coming in with that mindset of fitting in and doing anything we ask him to do,” said Green’s teammate Marc Gasol. “He understands that we’ll find him. I’ll find him. Every time he cuts or is open for 3, I’ll give him the ball.”
Gasol had 14 points and 3 blocks, Zach Randolph had 10 rebounds, and Tony Allen had 10 points off the bench, as the Grizzlies are now 15-3 since Green joined the team on January 12th.
It was a playoff atmosphere for most of the game as no team lead by more than double-digits. The Grizzlies were playing on the second night of a back-to-back on the road after defeating the Portland Trail Blazers 98-92 a night earlier.
“We had a hard game in Portland coming into here tonight,” said Randolph after the game. “We played in the muck, or guys stuck together, and had a good game. Courtney Lee had a great game.”
Mike Conley quietly was the high scorer for Memphis with 18 points and 7 assists. Conley has been great all season as the floor general for the Grizzlies, but strangely was never in the discussion for the All-Star game last weekend despite averaging 16.8 points and 5.4 assists for the third best team in the league.
“Michael Conley didn’t get far enough talk for the All Star Game,” said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. “People were upset about all these other guys who didn’t make it, and nobody talked about Conley and they had the second best record in the West. I kept thinking ‘is anyone going to bring this kid’s name up?’ He can really defend.”
The Grizzlies were aggressive as usual as their stout defense held the high-scoring Clippers to just 19 points in the fourth quarter.
“We got stops,” said Gasol about his team’s defense in the fourth quarter. “We hold a team to 80-something points that likes to score a lot of points. At the end of the game we made enough plays defensively to stay on top.”
The backcourt of Los Angeles was tremendous as Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford combined for 45 points. Paul had 30 points and 10 assists with Jordan adding 15 points on 4-15 shooting. DeAndre Jordan led the Clippers on the glass with 17 points, but couldn’t get it going offensively as he finished with just 9 points.
“They tried to take me out of the game early because me being able to give our team extra possessions is really valuable,” said Jordan. “Tonight, it was a little tougher. I didn’t get as many easy looks as I had before.”
The Clippers made it close with less than two minutes to play after J.J. Redick hit a three-pointer to cut the Grizzlies lead to 3. Paul followed with a fade away jumper and it was 88-87 with 1:10 left. The Clips couldn’t get any closer however as the Grizzlies clamped down on defense, stealing the ball from Paul with the game on the line.
“I give credit to Courtney Lee,” said Conley about the play. “He really did a fantastic job on him [Paul] at the end of the game. He forced him to a side, and I was able to cut him off. I just took a gamble, went after the ball, and I was able to come up with it.”
Game Notes:
It was a star-studded affair at Staples Center as actor/comedian Kevin Hart sat courtside. In addition to Hart, actor Rob Lowe, former Dodgers manager, Tommy Lasorda and boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. were all in attendance.
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