Grizzlies remain undefeated in pre-season after beating the Hornets
Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies seems to be a tad superstitious. After the Grizzlies beat the New Orleans Hornets (1-5) 96-91 last night in a pre-season game to push their record to
a perfect 7-0, Gasol was reminded after the game that the last time they won this many pre-season games, the Grizzlies went on to earn the franchise’s first playoff-berth.
"Whoa," Gasol said. "I don't want to talk about that."
Whether they want to be given a history lesson or not, the Grizzlies have to be happy with their hot start to the pre-season. Mike Conley led the Grizzlies with 19 points, going 9-10 from
the free throw line. Rudy g*y added 16 points while their young Belgian rookie Xavier Henry had a breakout game of sorts, scoring 15 points, 14 of which came in the second half.
"He played well," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said of Henry, the 12th overall draft pick last summer. "He made a lot of hustle plays. I thought the second unit did a heck of a job."
Henry, who played a personal pre-season high 27 minutes, was happy to get the extra playing time.
"I'm getting more comfortable," he said. "Every game I'm feeling more comfortable with what we run."
Pops Mensah-Bonsu led the Hornets in scoring with 19 points while Aaron Gray scored 13. Despite going 3-13 from the field for seven points, All-Star point guard Chris Paul finished with
12 assists.
Recovering from a strained right wrist, New Orleans' forward David West missed his fourth consecutive game last night while Memphis’ Zach Randolph sat out the game with an illness.
The Hornets got off to a hot start, scoring the first eight points of the game. But the Grizzlies fought back and entered the second quarter down 24-22. Conley made six straight free throws
to tie the game at 50 apiece before two straight buckets by Marcus Thornton pushed the Hornets' lead to 54-50 entering the second half.
Led by Henry, the Grizzlies opened the final quarter on an 11-2 run to go up 78-76. Their lead was built up to nine points with a minute to play in the game.
"We revved it up in the second half and everybody contributed," said Hollins. "That's the way we would like to do it [during the regular season]."
Grizzlies shooting guard O.J. Mayo, who scored 12 points in the contest, said he likes the depth of this team, who were able to pull off a win despite Randolph sitting out.
"We've got a lot of weapons," Mayo said. "We're a young, versatile team and things are starting to come together."
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