Here's the boxscore. Pau Gasol had another amazing performance, even on the defensive end, but I'll talk about that in the other thread. The one player that stood out to me from this game was Lorenzen Wright. In the first two games of the season, it seemed like his heart wasn't in the game, but tonight he played like himself, recording 10 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists. He really abused Drew Gooden and Big Z on the offensive end. I'm finally starting to warm up to Eddie Jones. In just 25 minutes, he scored 19 points and grabbed 5 rebounds, and most importantly, he shot 70%. While I still wouldn't start him over Mike Miller, I'm starting to be comfortable seeing him play major minutes now. I'm still disappointed with our point guards though, especially their shooting. Tonight, Stoudamire and Jackson only shot 27% combined, neither one scored more than ten points, and Stoudamire's eight points was even inflated by scoring about five of those points by being sent to the line over and over again in garbage time. They also only combined for eight assists yet managed to turn it over five times. I'm not confident in their playmaking ability, defense, or shooting skills right now. I'd still rather have Jason Williams and Earl Watson running the point. Jake Tsakalidis didn't play as much as I would have liked him to, but with Lorenzen Wright's performance, that's understandable. Battier logged 37 minutes even after having his head bashed open by Kelvin Cato's elbow last night and played his usual game - 12 points, 3 blocks, and a whole lot of defense. Mike Miller still came off the bench, but for the first time this season he shot his usual percentages, 57% from the field and 75% from downtown, as he finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds overall; I'd still like to see more scoring from him, but with his limited minutes, that's asking for a lot. Hakim Warrick spent the third straight night on the end of the bench. I'm still questioning Fratello's decision to bring him along slowly. Overall, the Grizzlies played great basketball. The game had it's lowpoints and a few players had bad games, but that's typical. The beginning of the season can be misleading, but if they keep this type of play up, then there's no way I can see them missing the playoffs this year.
Finally got a chance to watch the game yesterday. Pau was awesome on both ends. Lo worked the boards hard, something we don't see from him often enough. Was also impressed by the maturity of Mighty Mouse. No stupid shots, rather running a good offence and looking to find the open man. B-Jax's trey was pretty special too.
