Memphis coach Fizdale blasts ‘unprofessional’ officiating

Welcome back my Memphis Grizzlies vs San Antonio Spurs fans.

The Memphis Grizzlies coach had a bone to pick Monday night after his club lost 96-82 to the San Antonio Spurs to fall into a 2-0 hole in their first-round National Basketball Association playoff series.

Grizzlies players were equally upset about the officiating in the Spurs’ 96-82 victory.

Memphis Grizzlies Coach David Fizdale has his players’ backs and those players have his.

In Game 3, lineups should be the same across the board.

Game 4 is Saturday night.

“It wasn’t just me”, Green said. “We have to keep that up every single night”.

“So we have to make sure that even if they pressure us or they play more physical, we match that and we run our plays and we execute better”.

The Grizzlies trailed the Spurs by 19 points at halftime. From my many years coaching basketball, I know that if a couple of your guys shoot infinity from the floor, you should win. You have to get your team going, and you do it whichever way is necessary, I guess.

Fizdale gave his players a little extra push by saying, “They’re not gonna rook us”. That’s unacceptable. That’s unprofessional. Mike Conley had 24 points to lead the Grizzlies. Their post men haven’t been rolling offensively, but they’ve used their length to bother the Grizzlies – aside from Marc’s big Game 1.

The $30,000 fine is the result of Fizdale calling out the refs for the lopsided number of foul calls in favor of the Spurs so far.

The Grizzlies trail the Spurs 0-2, and Memphis has no room for errors in any aspect of a game.

For instance, while announcers like to talk about which team is outrebounding the other, the much more meaningful stat is the percentage of offensive rebounds the teams are getting. Carter was upset he almost fell on the opposite end of the court, believing Anderson had pushed him from behind.

Contrast that to Zach Randolph of the Grizz. The NBA has scheduled seven games in this first round playoffs.

In Game 1, San Antonio looked as if it might be in trouble – for 10 minutes. Ginobili has 309 3-pointers in his postseason career, third behind Ray Allen (385) and Reggie Miller (320) in league history. Late in the period, Conley, trapped by stifling defense by San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili along the sideline in front of the Grizzlies’ bench, called timeout, flipped the ball behind his back into the court and strode right off the floor and into a chair.