National Basketball Association

Mayo big key for Grizzlies, despite trade attempt

Published Apr. 27, 2011 8:16 a.m. ET

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The way O.J. Mayo is playing, it's a good thing the Grizzlies missed the deadline by mere minutes to trade him to Indiana.

Mayo has been a key reserve for Memphis in the first round of the playoffs against San Antonio. He put the Grizzlies ahead for good with a pivotal 3-pointer in Saturday night's 91-88 victory. He scored 11 points in Monday's 104-86 win, helping Memphis take a commanding 3-1 series lead.

The Grizzlies are primed to become the second No. 8 seed to upset a top seed since the NBA expanded to a best-of-seven series, and Mayo is a big reason why heading into Wednesday night's Game 5 in San Antonio.

Not bad for a guy whose trade to Indiana didn't go through because the Grizzlies missed the deadline.

''He's handled it like a pro,'' Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said. ''I am proud of O.J., how he's dealt with this whole situation. I'm sure he's tired of talking about it as I am. We're here now. We're in the playoffs and he's a very big part of what we're doing and we need him to play well in order for us to be successful.''

It's been a very trying season on and off the court for the third overall pick in the 2008 draft.

Mayo was benched after he was a couple minutes late for a shootaround before a game against the Miami Heat in November. That snapped a streak of 77 straight starts. He finished with 17 starts, coming off the bench the rest of the season.

Then his father, whom Mayo isn't close to, was charged with attempted murder two days before Christmas for hitting a police officer with his car and dragging him several feet. January brought a fight with teammate Tony Allen on a charter flight over a card game, and a 10-game suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy, which he blamed on an energy drink.

After the fight and the suspension, Mayo never shied away from questions.

But then to have the team try to trade him away easily was the toughest. The deal would have sent him to Indiana for Josh McRoberts and a first-round draft pick, but it fell through.

''I was pretty staggered probably that day, that night,'' Mayo said. ''I mean waking up on the way to practice, I was like, 'Man they don't even want me here coming to practice.' Once I got in the locker room, it was still the same old guys. They welcomed me with open arms. It was cool.''

Mayo has averaged 16 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 235 games with the Grizzlies. He was runner-up to Chicago's Derrick Rose for rookie of the year after leading all rookies both in scoring and minutes.

''Mentally, I just had to be strong and understand that the most important thing you know with ... my teammates is just keeping a positive locker room through everything and making sure our main goal is just win,'' Mayo said. ''It was a lot of mess there that I had never experienced before.''

Asked how he worked to fit back in, Mayo compared it to being the last guy chosen for a pickup game.

''You're going to go work, get shots up and work on your game, work on your game, until you feel like you're back on track and to make a push,'' Mayo said.

Admittedly, it was a new feeling for the 6-foot-4 guard. He left Southern California after his freshman season, a school he chose to play at across the country from his native West Virginia. The closest he had come to this type of struggle before was trying to get into the pickup games at UCLA featuring plenty of NBA and college players.

Helping Mayo is the closeness he has with Rudy Gay, guard Mike Conley, Darrell Arthur and Marc Gasol. These Grizzlies are very young, essentially built through the draft.

''We pretty much had a nice bond like brothers, and I was happy to still be here,'' Mayo said.

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