Portland Trail Blazers snap Memphis Grizzlies 7-game winning streak with dominant 97 – 84 victory - NBA Recap(Part 2)
The Memphis Grizzlies would have been disappointed at witnessing their 7 game winning streak come to an end at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers, but their head coach wasn’t too displeased with the team. In fact, Lionel Hollins spoke after the game
to congratulate the Trail Blazers are said his team were just on the receiving end of some pretty good basketball on the night.
"We gave all we had. It just wasn't enough tonight. You have to give (the Blazers) credit. They came out and took us out of things we usually get buckets on and made us work for everything. When you're a little fatigued it's hard to keep attacking. You want
to settle, and we did settle too much."
The Grizzlies have a fighting unit, but they were missing some muscle in the form of power forward Zach Randolph. Randolph was a star for Memphis last season, especially in the playoffs, but his long term absence this season through injury has left them
a little soft, especially inside the paint.
The Portland Trail Blazers took complete advantage of this fact; with power forward LaMarcus Aldridge draining the game high points and centre Marcus Camby gobbling up an incredible number of rebounds. In fact, Camby’s performance left talented centre Marc
Gasol pretty helpless at times and brought some spotlight for his own hard work throughout this young season.
Jamal Crawford, a new recruit for Portland after he left the Atlanta Hawks, sang Camby’s praises after the game and declared himself to be extremely impressed with the big man since arriving at the franchise.
"He's incredible. He does all the little things to help the team win. Sometimes they show up in the stat sheet; sometimes they don't. But he's the glue guy on this team. He's always there."
Camby’s dominance on the boards was undoubtedly a big catalyst for Portland’s win. His efforts fuelled a 50 – 39 advantage on the boards for the Trail Blazers. In one quarter, the whole Memphis Grizzlies outfit garnered 5 rebounds while Camby alone had 8.
Another unsung hero for the Trail Blazers has been Gerald Wallace, who tormented the Grizzlies tonight with his intensity on the defensive end. Wallace also grabbed 11 rebounds and had 7 points in an all action display and Camby praised the forward for his
strong display.
"He's a different player here at home. He feeds off the crowd. They get behind him, cheering his name.” He said.
As good as Portland were, the Memphis Grizzlies were below par as well. They weren’t feeling it from the field, connecting on a low 37.8 percent. They were even poorer from beyond the arc, making just 21.4 percent while they converted 76.5 percent of their
free throws.
Rudy g*y and Marc Gasol, two of the most important players so far for Memphis this season, were both not really firing, nor was anyone in the starting line-up for that matter. Some help did come from the bench, but it eventually proved inadequate as the
Grizzlies stumbled to a 97 – 84 defeat.
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