It's not surprising that Allen Iverson is going to dominate nearly every headline involving the Memphis Grizzlies this season.  Unfortunately, one of the first significant headlines about The Answer is that he is going to be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks after tearing a hamstring prior to the Grizzlies' win over Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Now, Iverson is getting up there in terms of age, so his body is undoubtedly closer to breaking down than, say, O.J. Mayo's.  That being said, the main cause of hamstring injuries is inactivity. When you don't warm up or keep your body in top shape before practice or a game, you risk pulling muscles.  Since AI has been out of action for a while after being benched in Detroit, he spent the offseason trying to latch on anywhere he could.  If he was so intent on getting a free-agent deal done, you would think he would have been working out in his spare time to keep his conditioning at an appropriate level.  Of course, he knows that, so this could just be a freak early-season injury.  The Grizzlies can only hope there aren't any lingering effects of this injury as the season progresses.

Continue reading "Tear Brings Ominous Atmosphere to Iverson Era in Memphis"

 It's basketball time again in the Bluff City as the Grizzlies opened the 2009-10 season by hosting the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday.

Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins is not mincing words after the team's opening-night loss to the Pistons.  Stressing defense and intensity over offense, Hollins called out Marc Gasol, who put up decent numbers, saying, "Well, he didn't block any shots.  He didn't guard anybody."  The man means business.  In his mind, basketball is a team game.  He is talking the talk and he expects his players to walk the walk.  A few individuals played well tonight, but until they come together as a unit, their coach will not be impressed.

That kind of approach can be good for a young team to stress that the individual stats don't matter if the team doesn't win, or at least play together.  The Pistons offered a daunting challenge to start the season for the Grizzlies, who played well during the preseason.  Even if they aren't the Pistons of five years ago, they are still no pushover.  The fact that the Grizzlies made plays and worked as a team during the preseason raises the possibility that tonight's setback is simply a case of opening-night jitters.  However, this is still a young team with a few new pieces, so there is some learning to be done.

Continue reading "Pistons 96, Grizzlies 74"

This just in : Zach Randolph is a beast.  Everyone who has said he would be a cancer and wouldn't play hard and is the same thug he was in Portland isn't looking very smart right now.  Randolph can single-handedly dominate the post for the Grizzlies this season.  He proved as much last night against the Toronto Raptors as the Grizz earned their first win of the season 115-107 on Friday.  Randolph led the Grizzlies with 30 points and seven rebounds.

Chris Bosh led all scorers with 37 points.  Sure, that is a high number, but the Grizzlies forced him to try to beat them single-handedly, focusing their defense on Hedo Turkoglu, who burned them in the past as a member of the Sacramento Kings.  Turkoglu managed only 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting.

The Grizzlies showed some of their youth with an inability to close the Raptors out when they built a double-digit lead in the first half, and lost the third quarter scoring battle as usual, but they outscored the visitors 39-28 in the fourth quarter to snuff out any hope of a comeback.

Continue reading "Grizzlies 115, Raptors 107"