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Memphis Winning with Size
May
5
2011
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Brett Huston:
***Written before Game 2 vs. OKC Thunder***
A month ago, Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol were playoff novices.
Randolph’s postseason experience consisted of one minute of garbage time in 2002 with Portland and one unsatisfying seven-game series a year later. Gasol’s contribution to the NBA’s 16-team tournament was being a throw-in for his own brother in a Februrary 2008 deal that turned the Lakers into the Western Conference’s best team for the next three seasons.
That’s a title San Antonio assumed this regular season – and one Randolph, Gasol and the Grizzlies wiped away in six games. With the Spurs gone, the Lakers’ next biggest threat appeared to be up-and-coming Oklahoma City.
Once again, Memphis doesn’t seem to be intimidated.
The Grizzlies have been perhaps the West’s most impressive team thus far in the postseason, and it’s not just because they’ve been protecting their home-court advantage at FedEx Forum.
While Memphis won its three home games against the Spurs, an eighth seed isn’t going to make any noise in the playoffs without being able to win on the road. After going just 16-25 away from home in the regular season, the Grizzlies are a miraculous Gary Neal 3-pointer away from a 3-1 playoff record in hostile territory.
The key to that success? Playing from the inside out. In the two games Memphis won, Randolph and Gasol scored 49 points apiece, an average of 0.321 points for every touch.
In the two road losses, the frontcourt tandem got fewer touches and totaled just 60 points. They averaged 126.5 touches in losses in Games 2 and 5 against the Spurs, 26 fewer than they had in Game 1 wins at San Antonio and Oklahoma City.
Randolph’s 36 touches in Game 2 were unusually low because of foul trouble. Not coincidentally, that was the lone time in Memphis’ seven postseason games it hasn’t led in the fourth quarter.
In addition to fewer touches, Randolph and Gasol weren’t nearly as efficient in the losses. The duo averaged 0.237 points per touch in the losses at San Antonio, and got to the free-throw line 40 percent less (20 attempts) than they did in their series-opening wins over the Spurs and Grizzlies (33).
Formulating a plan to slow Randolph and Gasol is far easier in theory than in practice, but Thunder coach Scott Brooks might want to use a few more double teams to get the ball back to Memphis’ shooters.
The Grizzlies, quite simply, don’t like to shoot the 3. They attempted 926 in the regular season, the fewest in the league in the past four seasons. They’re 11-16 when they take 14 or more shots from beyond the arc, something they’ve done just once in the postseason – the 93-87 Game 2 loss at San Antonio.
On the other hand, Memphis is 40-22 when it attempts 13 or fewer 3s.
It doesn’t take a playoff veteran to see that riding Randolph and Gasol is a formula that works more often than not.
| Zach Randolph Game Two vs. OKC Thunder | |
| Category | Stat |
| Touches | 54 |
| Points | 15 |
| Points Per Touch | .28 |
| FGM | 2 |
| FGA | 13 |
| Touches Per Shot | 4.15 |
| Touches Per FTA | 4.5 |
This entry was posted by STATS Editorial |