(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)
This is the kind of game that needs no explanation, which is a good thing because there really isn’t one.
Suffice it to say that in football parlance Memphis won the toss and elected to receive and the Suns chose to defend neither goal. Or, if you insist on hoop speak, the Suns played All-Star defense, and if you’ve ever seen an NBA All-Star Game you know this is not a compliment.
And don’t let that 128-103 final score fool you. The game wasn’t nearly that competitive. The Grizzlies basically did whatever they wanted to do whenever they wanted to do it pretty much from the opening tip all the way to garbage time (which was roughly the last 25 minutes).
The only comforting thought is that this had to be an aberration, so let’s say that’s what it was — strictly a case of a much-better-than-people-realize Memphis team catching the Suns without their A game, or even their B game. (In fact, you’d have to go quite a bit deeper into the alphabet to find the proper letter for the game they did bring.
There. Now don’t you feel better?
Segueing smoothly from the ridiculous to the sublime, the Grizzlies have gone 14-8 since jettisoning Allan Iverson, reached the .500 mark last night, and are strong, athletic, and talented enough to make some serious noise in the East. And kudos to former Arizona State star and Suns’ assistant Lionel Hollins for selling his players on the benefits of sharing the ball, a concept with which they were not hitherto familiar with.
The bottom line: Can’t think of one (Hey, I didn’t bring my A game either).
