<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">TORONTO -- Nearly 15 minutes still remained when the Toronto Raptors appeared to cry uncle. Grizzlies guard Damon Stoudamire had just glided to the basket and scooped in a layup despite being hacked. When Stoudamire strolled to the foul line, the Raptors collectively limped toward their bench. Problem is, time hadn't been called. The referees coaxed the Raptors back onto the floor. By then, the Grizzlies were grinning and their opponents were reluctant participants. At that point, the Grizzlies' stranglehold took the form of a 29-point lead. Allowing the reeling Raptors to catch their breath never was an option for the Griz, who stomped out of Air Canada Centre Wednesday night with a 92-66 victory -- the third fewest points allowed in franchise history. "You can mark games on your calendar and say it's a game you're supposed to win," Stoudamire said after dropping a game-high 19 points on his former team. "But you have to come in here and take care of business." Or as Stoudamire's understudy, Bobby Jackson, put it: "Make them dip their heads and make them quit." If the Raptors indeed gave up, that was the only thing they did against the Grizzlies' defense. The Griz flew around the court and contested shots while limiting dribble penetration all night. In forcing the Raptors to mostly launch perimeter shots, the Griz didn't allow 20 points in any quarter. Toronto shot just 34 percent, which included 1-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc. Add 19 forced turnovers and the Grizzlies (10-5) simply ran the Raptors (1-15) ragged, and closed out a franchise-record November in dominating fashion. "When we play swarming defense we're pretty good," Griz swingman Shane Battier said. "But that's how we have to play because we're not very big. We don't have that beast inside. If you look at when we've lost, we've lost because we haven't been swarming." A 17-2 run that bridged the first and second periods broke a 3-point game wide open. The Griz tacked on a 17-6 barrage to end the first half, and led 58-35 at the intermission. Stoudamire's 3-point play made the score 73-44 with 2:40 remaining in the third. So went those feisty Raptors that pushed Dallas before losing by two, and had lost three of the past four games by three points or less. "I really thought that after the way we played against Dallas and the shootaround (Wednesday morning) that we would play better," Raptors coach Sam Mitchell said. "It's disappointing. ... (The Grizzlies) are a good basketball team but there were a few things we felt we could take advantage of and we didn't." Nothing positive materialized for the Raptors while the Griz showcased the energy and killer instinct they displayed last Saturday during a win at Dallas. Even in the third quarter when the Griz got sloppy -- committing as many turnovers (8) in the period as they had in the first half -- their defense remained staunch. During one sequence, Battier blocked a Chris Bosh shot and Pau Gasol blocked his put-back attempt, and that led to a Grizzly score. "They seemed really tuned in before the game during pre-game warm-ups," Griz coach Mike Fratello said. "They seemed focused on what we were trying to get done here." </div> Source The Grizzlies are so consistent this season. Gasol is getting them 20/10 and they can rely on Eddie Jones, Shane Battier, or Damon Stoudemire to be the 2nd scoring option. Having options for your go to guy has made all the difference for the Grizzlies this year.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post"> Having options for your go to guy has made all the difference for the Grizzlies this year.</div> Exactly. Pau has great court vision and is a solid passer, so we've really exploited those skills when teams inevitably double-team him. It's wonderful knowing that when he kicks it out to the perimeter, we've always got a guy capable of knocking down the big shot.
Eddie Jones was making his threes with a sniper's proficiency in this game. While it's certain that the Raptors, coach and players alike, failed to read his scouting report, it's also clear that the Grizz are simply very adept at finding the open man on the perimeter. Convincing win, even though Gasol didn't get his regular numbers. The Raptors played with no passion and Memphis fully deserved the win.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">the Grizz are simply very adept at finding the open man on the perimeter.</div> Whilst teams continue to collapse on Pau we'll be getting open looks on the perimeter. The great thing is that if EJ's shot isn't going down, we've also got Mighty Mouse along with Mike M off the bench, both of whom are more than capable of knocking down a string of long-range jumpers. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post"> Convincing win, even though Gasol didn't get his regular numbers. </div> That's the great thing about Pau. He doesn't care about stuffing stats and if he is getting double-teamed he'll be creative with his passing rather than forcing shots. It's nice to have an unselfish star, i'm sure his teammates appreciate how he plays the game too.
