Time for a reality check, AI: http://www.hoopsmanifesto.com/articles/basketball/aging-gracelessly.html
i hate that everyone is about to blow this up as allen iverson complaining... Conley SUCKED last night. I know Iverson isn't known for his defense, but watching Conley was actually sad. AI played well and he should be upset because they would have won if he played more. Conley is the reason why the game went to OT, and why they lost in OT. When Iverson came in, he was making plays and scoring. When conley was in, Mayo did most of the ball handleing and Conley was getting owned by BENO UDRIGH... bad coaching by lional hollins. Hopefully Memphis signed AI to win games, not just to boost pre season ticket sales...
That's a complete contrast to this analysis ... "His ball-dominating ways took Memphis out of an offensive flow where they were pounding it inside to Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol," he writes. "He ran the point for 18 minutes but had only one assist. "More importantly, he didn't play any defense, and that's what the Grizzlies really need right now. Memphis is dead last in defensive efficiency, so it's unclear how replacing Mike Conley with Iverson would make things any better."
Quotes after the game ... “I went to the bench and told my teammates that I didn’t think they knew I was in the game,” Iverson said. “They didn’t. They didn’t even think I was in the game and that was a bad thing. I was like, ‘Man, I was wide-open.’ “Obviously, [the Kings] didn’t think I was in the game because someone big ended up on me. I guess [the Grizzlies] got used to me sitting so long that I didn’t even get in the game.” Iverson wanted to clarify that he wouldn’t complain if the Grizzlies were winning. But they didn’t, and they aren’t. “If we’re winning, I can play 10 minutes and I’m happy,” he said. “When we’re losing, that’s when I trip out.” “It’s not about me being selfish or anything like that,” he said. “It’s just the fact that this is who I am. I don’t want to change what gave me all the success when I came into this league.” Source: Yahoo
I read some of the reports today from the Iverson haters. And honostly they sounded like they came from someone who didn't know what basketball was, but just had an opinion on Iverson. If you watched the game, you would notice that the offense was disrupted when Conley was inserted back into the game in the 4th quarter. Like i said AI isn't a step up over anyone defensively, but Conley just looked lost on defense and offense. Sure he'll defer to the other starters to score, but what else is he besides a guy that passes to other scorers? At least AI can make plays. And i don't see how Iverson disrupted the offense or Randolph's game, he ended up with 30 and 16... He hit a couple buckets, got an assist, and got a couple passes that led to assists.
Didn't Iverson know what he was getting into when he signed here? The Grizzlies were the only team, I repeat the ONLY team willing to sign him for decent money this past summer. Iverson said he knew his role on the team and now he's back tracking on his statement. As good as Iverson still thinks he is NO other team in the league wanted to sign him. How come everyone can put 1 and 1 together except Iverson? If he just shut his mouth and actually bought into the team concept he'd attract more suitors next summer or maybe even position himself to be traded to a contending team this year.
