Gasol, Conley help Grizzlies get past Pacers 112-103

The league office made the announcement just before tip-off of Thursday night’s home opener against Memphis.

Batman and Robin, we’ve been calling them.

They’ll try to find their way into the win column Saturday night against the visiting Utah Jazz.

A George 3-pointer at the 5:52 mark gave Indiana a 93-92 lead, but after that, Memphis enjoyed a 20-10 scoring advantage. “When the season rolled around, I got focused”.

OK, that’s an overreaction. “We’re not interested in being a bad defensive team”, Vogel says. And believe me, I see his point. Elite offensive weapons. They haven’t gotten going yet. I’m confident in what we are and what we can be. The over has also been profitable, hitting in nine of the last 10 games played in Memphis between these two teams.

Monta Ellis was 3 of 12 shooting and didn’t get to the foul line often enough either.

Up to a point, he’s right. Pacers rookie Myles Turner made his National Basketball Association debut and played well with eight points, four rebounds, and a blocked shot in 18 minutes. In other words, the Pacers are trying to score 103 ppg this season. The Cavs undoubtedly played well, but Memphis’ poor shooting and general ineptitude sank them before the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter. Small ball has been the buzzword and Paul George, at the risk of alienation was named the team’s starting power forward.

But how long before they actually do it? Gasol should averaged 20 points or more for the season and put up career highs in many areas.

And the Grizzlies came out Thursday night with force, looking more recognizable than they did 24 hours earlier. I know what they can do.

The BadA prerequisite to reading the rest of this paragraph: it has only been two games.

One, George Hill is becoming a star.

Dating back to last season, Cleveland hasn’t been a great bet playing on back-to-back days, however. Add in Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao off the bench, and the Cavs have almost 28 feet of competent big man to counter the Grizzlies’ frontcourt.

Kevin Love led the carom-party putting his body within 3′ of the ricochet 19 times and securing 13 of them.

“(Wednesday) night, we got our butt whipped, so guys came out with a lot more energy in this game”, forward Zach Randolph said. For the second game in a row, he became distracted by officiating, picking up a second technical foul.

Despite erasing a 15-point first quarter deficit, the Pacers were unable to get the job done late once again.

The Grizzlies have five rotation players who are approaching free agency next summer, a situation that could become a locker room distraction over time. Leadership comes in all kinds of sizes, all sorts of examples.

George, and all involved, must keep in mind that the season will be like the games: it isn’t about the start, it’s about the finish. Showing up is half the battle, and the crowd of 18,165 – charitably listed as a sellout – showed up. 106-99 game at that point as the Grizz win it by 9.

Like this is Miami or something.

It’s just two games. (Paul George drops 15.2 per game.) Ellis isn’t the best defender, but he’s potent in a transition offense.

“Speaking individually for him, Memphis has been Marc’s home for quite a while”.