Due to the extended NBA All-Star break, the Memphis Grizzles do not play again until Sunday at Portland -- and they won't play at home until Feb. 27 against the Clippers. Here are five post-break questions to ponder in the meantime.
Look what happened in Oklahoma City before the All-Star break. Sure, the 16-point debacle came at the hands of a desperate Thunder team very capable of winning an NBA title when healthy, but it also came at their place.
Playing a clinching playoff game on the road in the Western Conference isn't desirable. Sixteen of the Grizzlies' (39-14) final 19 games are on the road. Win every single game you can and try and pass Golden State for the top seed in the West. The 11 remaining games against sub.-500 teams are especially important. Sixteen of the final 29 come against prospective playoff teams. Four more are against teams just outside their respective conference's current top eight: New Orleans (twice), Oklahoma City and Boston.
The line between winning a playoff series and losing a playoff series is fine -- as fine as playing Game 7 in Memphis or elsewhere.
Not if he can help it. The All-Star's impending free agency is the elephant in the Grizzlies locker room, but it's a locker room that seems perfectly content to walk around the elephant, feed it the occasional peanut and continue to be confident it will head to another circus at some point.
As for the 7-foot-1 center (18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game), all signs point to a return to Memphis. The city has been his home since he was 16, standing tall in big brother Pau's shadow. While he says he will entertain offers -- and why shouldn't he? -- it's hard to imagine him leaving. His bond with the city, his friendship with power forward Zach Randolph and his desire to win being matched by the organization's all point home.
But Gasol is all business. And he won't let on to anything until he's done trying to bring an NBA title home.
Watching Stephen Curry drain 3-pointer after 3-pointer at MSG this weekend offered a reminder: NBA champions tend to shoot well from beyond the arc. At the break, the Grizzlies are 21st in the league, shooting 34 percent from the outside.
Guard Courtney Lee, though a mile behind Atlanta's out-of-his-mind Kyle Korver, is third in the league from 3-point range, shooting 44.8 percent, but he's only attempted 145 total. That's 102nd in the league, 259 less than Curry. Ray Allen is out there, though he seems off the grid for Memphis.
Interestingly enough, of the nine teams below Memphis in 3-point shooting, only Charlotte is currently a playoff team. Glass half empty says Memphis can't beat the better-shooting teams in a playoff series without 3-point help. Glass half full says Memphis can continue to defy the odds and be the team that breaks the trend and wins a championship in the paint.
Carter hit 48 percent of the 31 3-pointers he took for Dallas in last season's first-round playoff loss to San Antonio.
When Mike Miller left Memphis and Carter signed with the Grizzlies, the hope was he could put up similar numbers. It hasn't been the case. In 17 minutes per game, Carter is averaging only six points, an assist and nearly two rebounds. His 33 percent shooting is by far the lowest of his career, on pace to be the first time below 40 percent. His 27 percent from 3-point range is also a career-low, the first time that number has flirted with being below 30 percent since his rookie season.
Carter, 38, was a rookie in 1998. He hasn't had the chance recently to improve the numbers. He missed the final seven games before the break with a left foot tendon injury. Memphis needs his return, and his production, to outlast Father Time.
Absolutely. But the path is scary. If the playoffs started today, the second-seed Grizzlies would face the defending champions in the first round, the San Antonio Spurs. That's some reward for a successful regular season, huh? There have been plenty of positives. Zach Randolph has played out of his mind. In the 44 games he has played, he's posted 31 double-doubles. The addition of Jeff Green has worked and while he's still finding his fit, has added inside scoring with and without Gasol and Randolph on the floor. Point guard Mike Conley (averaging 16.9 points and 5.3 assists) continues a career season. Beno Udrih is a mid-range monster, shooting 50 percent overall in nearly 19 minutes per game. And there is a roster spot available for the right fit.
The Grizzlies are 11th in offensive efficiency and tied for sixth with Atlanta for defensive efficiency.
That's the glass half full. If the rest of the glass can fill up with some 3-point shooting, Vince Carter's production and a few more wins, a championship is more a reality than national television desires.
