Barnes makes desperation 3, Grizzlies top Pistons

Memphis had won 13 of its last 14 games when C Marc Gasol reached 20 points….

Matt Barnes tossed in a desperation three-pointer from just inside midcourt with 1.1 seconds left to give Memphis a victory over host Detroit on Wednesday night.

Or to be blunt about it: unsafe and potentially disastrous if the injury bug had bitten hard.

“We felt like we didn’t play great”, Memphis coach Dave Joerger said. “So it’s important. You can’t ignore it”.

Grizzlies: Gasol played despite spraining his left ankle in Tuesday’s lopsided loss to Oklahoma City…. Teammate Courtney Lee chose to focus on a poor collective effort as the Grizzlies fell to 12 of 55 (21.8 percent) from long range in the last four games. “Especially to lose that way in front of our home crowd”. Nine of their 10 losses have been by double-figures and seven of those have been by 15 points or more. “It’ll put you in the best position to win games”.

Danny Green hit a 3-pointer following a timeout to make it a 3-point game with 2:47 to play, but Bismack Biyombo threw down a dunk to restore the Raptors’ five-point edge.

“”Everybody has to look themselves in the mirror, do better and be accountable.””. Unfortunately for the Pistons, they weren’t able to come up with a miracle of their own, and the Grizzlies walked away with the road win. Certainly, there were positives to pull from the Wednesday, Dec. 9, game.

Barnes finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds for the Grizzlies, which improved to 13-10 for the season.

The Pistons and Grizzlies have identical 12-10 records but find themselves in different positions in their respective playoff pictures. They kind of like to rough you up a little bit. Why don’t we have a 5-point shot? Defensively, the Grizzlies yield 100.7 points against the opposing teams. Toronto defeated San Antonio 97-94. “That’s what we need”.

Despite the uneven performances, the Grizzlies are not in a bad spot.

“They just made a play”, Hornacek said. So don’t be so eager to buy low on the Western Conference finalist that’s still below.500.

And that has the coach thinking about numbers again, about how much cushion there might be should it be needed. Maybe if there was a 5-point line, the Spurs could have won.