Spurs Looking to Grind Out the Grizzlies

His biggest job will be bottling up Marc Gasol for stretches, something he did passably when the Spurs met the Grizzlies in the regular season.

The 16-year veteran only had two assists, but no turnovers in leading the Spurs to a decisive victory.

Here are five expectations for the first round of the 2017 playoffs. Meanwhile, Conley had his way with Tony Parker-driving to the hoop with impunity and also dropping a 3-ball.

His athleticism has diminished and his speed has declined. Yeah, that’s not a great stat line, but Green’s defense on Mike Conley was key in this win. When he’s not scoring, he’s facilitating for teammates and locking up opposing guards.

At the same time, Parker was energized by his inadequate play thus far and started attacking Conley with the verve of the youngster he used to be. “He’s the head of the snake”, Parker said. With the Spurs up 60-55 with over six minutes left in the third, the shooting guard stole a pass and took it back the other way, drawing a foul on Conley. Doesn’t matter whether they try Jamychal Green, Vince Carter, or anyone off the bench…

Each of these teams have found themselves in contention due to their skill and depth.

The Grizz are hoping for better contributions from some fringe players, especially sixth man Zach Randolph. San Antonio led the league in Aggregate Bench Net Rating (ABNR) with a score of +8.9, according to NBA.com, so the bench will likely play a vital role in this series. Alvarez joined the team but didn’t play a year ago.

Andrew Harrison (10 points) hit Memphis’ only 3-pointer after halftime as the Grizzlies went 1 of 10 from beyond the arc in the second half.

One of Marc’s biggest fans is his older brother. Someone sent it to me, and I kept it all this time.

GUARDING KAWHI: Leonard led the Spurs averaging 25.5 points a game, and Grizzlies defensive whiz Tony Allen is out indefinitely with a a href=’https://apnews.com/f7cbf8cc94b443758d64133244ffee0f/Grizzlies’-Allen-out-indefinitely-with-strained-calf-muscle’strained right calf./a That leaves Fizdale trying to figure who to use and hopefully slow down Leonard.

Clearly, one significant reason why Popovich was able to make so many critical in-game adjustments was because he had a wide variety of tools at his disposal.

He’s been considered the “enforcer” of the Grizzlies for his toughness and grit.

“We can’t get caught up in it and let our minds take us away from the game and complain”, Mills said.

From the second through fourth quarters, the Spurs beat the Grizzlies by 34 points. They came out looking like the better team in Game 1, and if they maintain that level of play, it looks like it will be a short series. “Now that we are here and everything we talked about all year, everything we prepared for is in our face now and I think they are really ready for it”.

The Spurs are simply deeper and more versatile than Memphis without sacrificing athleticism or youth.

The Spurs rested their starters for the entire fourth quarter, which could be a huge advantage in a series that’s expected to be a physical one between grind-it-out teams.

Postseason pros: The Spurs opened their latest postseason run Saturday holding the NBA’s best playoff mark over the past 20 years. Join the Air Alamo team! Playoffs are normally that time when everybody wakes up and says, ‘All right, Memphis is pretty good.