Playoffs!

[seshomoru]

I realize basketball is now dead, beaten, run over, and killed again around here, but the Griz locked up a playoff spot with the win last night. Still have a shot at getting home court for a series, but it's 1.5games with four to go behind the Clipps.

Grind Forth. They even won two nights ago while missing 14 straight shots in the fourth quarter.</p>

 

[ckDOG]

We have @Charlotte (15th), Portland (11th), Cleveland (13th), Orlando (6th).

Clippers have @Phoenix (9th), NO (15th), @Atlanta (4th), and @Knicks (7th).

Lakers have @Spurs (1st), OKC (2nd), and Sacramento (14th).

If we go 4-0, which is very possible, I could see us sliding into 4th - I think the Clippers could go 2-2 with that schedule. I doubt the refs will allow the Lakers to lose home court by losing their last 3 though....

 

[Hump4Hoops]

I have a group of teams (OKC, Denver, the 3 Texas teams) that I usually decide to root for, a team that I always root against (LA), and that's usually enough to keep me with a team to cheer for till the end.

I did enjoy watching Memphis over the Spurs last year, that was pretty neat.

If I really want to hunker down and get involved, who should I pay attention to on the Memphis roster? Marc Gasol is the only one I could name. Educate me please.

 

[ckDOG]

He's not flashy or anything, he just plays tough with high energy. Plus, he looks like a homeless man that just stumbled in from off the street. And, just look at his twitter account. He's in a different world. You just have to like the guy.

Rudy Gay is playing well now. He can create. When he's on, we are tough to beat.

Zach Randolph looks like he should suck. He looks out of shape and unathletic, but the moves he makes on the post are ridiculous. I don't know how he does what he does.

My personal favorite is Gasol. He's just an all around solid player on both ends of the court and rarely makes dumb mistakes. He really turned it on during the playoffs last year. I'm hoping to see a similar output this year.

OJ Mayo is great off the bench and is a solid outside shooting threat.

 

[seshomoru]

He was on the fast track to wasting a hell of a talent. Don't know what it was that got his act together, but it's working. He looks dumpy and slow, but he can be damn near unstoppable in the paint. Plus, he's got a shockingly good outside post up game as well. On top of getting his act together as far as the game is concerned, he's apparently a big teddy bear of a dude in Memphis. Does the Zbo Claus routine for kids over Christmas. Pays people's utility bills. Hands out tickets to games for free on game days. The people in Memphis love him.

Almost the entireity of the roster is players that shouldn't be as good as they are. Conley was supposed to be a stop gap until they found a true point guard. Arenas was out of the league and washed up. Cunningham, Speights, Pondexter? Tony Allen is too old to play good defense anymore. Marc wasn't supposed to be half of what Pau is. Gay was supposed to be not good enough to warrant a big contract and they just hoped he was good enough to be good trade bait. Honestly, the one guy on the team that was supposed to be a star was OJ, and he's been awesome to put the team first (didn't always seem like it was heading that way) and play the role of 6th man.

Grit Grind

 

[Cramer-The-Goat]

Mike Conley who is a very under rated point guard. He has turn out great for them.

 

[Hanmudog]

I am a Laker fan first and foremost and I am hoping like hell they avoid having to play Memphis in the first round. The Griz are for real this year.

A first round matchup of Miami and New York would be well worth watching too. Just hate that Lin probably won't be back in time for the Knicks.

 

[ckDOG]

Seems to be a theme with the Grizz, but again, not flashy, just solid/smart play.