<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">"We lost nine of our last 10, and somewhere along the way we stopped playing again," Grizzlies president Jerry West said of a team that went 45-37 in the regular season to take the Western No. 8 seed. "Is that immaturity? Absolutely. Is that people who are disgruntled? Probably. It all contributes to it." From coach Hubie Brown's sudden resignation on Thanksgiving night because of health problems, to the shocking death of longtime team play-by-play announcer Don Poier, to having dysfunctional lineups all year because of injuries, the 2004-05 season wasn't the same smooth ride as the previous year. "No matter how great a situation is one year, it's going to change the next year," said Grizzlies' fourth-year forward Shane Battier, one of the franchise's cornerstones. "You know at the start of the season that people are going to get hurt, that people are going to have disagreements. That's part of it. You just do the best you can, play good basketball and put on a good show." Until mid-February, it was a great show, a remarkable performance at times, considering the on-the-fly coaching change from Brown to Mike Fratello. Even with injuries to starting forward Pau Gasol and key reserves Stromile Swift and James Posey, and the emotional loss with the passing of Poier, the Griz hit a stretch where they won 16-of-20 games. </div> Source
