MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Most daggers in the NBA are inflicted from the perimeter. They're high-arcing shots that, when released, fill an arena with held breath, followed by a celebratory eruption from the crowd.
That's not how they do things in Memphis.
When it came time for the Grizzlies to apply the dagger in their 94-82 Game 3 win over the
Los Angeles Clippers, the weapon wasn't a pretty jumper, an ankle-breaker or a running hook. It was a tangle of limbs underneath, all fighting for Tony Allen's missed layup high off the glass. The ensuing battle for possession culminated in
Zach Randolph's swallowing up the ball, going back up with a left-handed miss of his own, then tipping
that miss home to give the Grizzlies a 14-point lead with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
Memphis might have the dullest collection of daggers in basketball, but they're as deadly as anything you'll find in the more polished display cases around the rest of the league. And it's fitting for a team -- and a star like Randolph -- that prefers street fights to advanced warfare.
"That's what we do," Randolph said. "We wanted to play our game, and tonight we focused on it."
Spruce Derden/USA TODAY SportsZach Randolph helped put Game 3 out of reach.
"Play our game" was a refrain heard repeatedly around the Grizzlies over the past week. Dropping two road games to start a series is never a source of satisfaction, but the manner in which the Grizzlies lost those games in Los Angeles has been an irritant for Memphis. The Grizzlies' defense ranked second in the league during the regular season, but coming into Thursday's game, only the
Atlanta Hawks had given up more points per possessions in the postseason. Memphis also ranked second in rebounding rate in the regular season but was dead last among the 16 playoff teams.
Chalk it up to a reversion to the mean or a renewed effort or the comforts of home or plain old desperation, but the Grizzlies reversed those trends in Game 3 by a wide margin.
"We had 17 offensive rebounds," Randolph said. " We rebounded the ball well, got out in transition, got in the post, high-low from [
Marc Gasol], [Gasol] hit shots. I hit shots. That's our game."
Randolph finished with a 27 points on 9-for-18 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 from the stripe. He corralled a game-high 11 rebounds, six of them on the offensive glass.
Stat line aside, Randolph was simply dominant in the half-court on Thursday.
During the first two games in Los Angeles, he was present but largely ineffective. Between the foul trouble and the sagging Clippers' defense willing to yield perimeter looks to load up on the Grizzlies' post players, he was neutered.
But in Game 3, Randolph was insatiable. He made rim runs in
half-court sets, gobbled up space behind the Clippers' defense, outmuscling the Clippers' big men on the glass, and bullied them on the block.
Griffin, who was the presiding force down on the block in Game 2, had his hands full with Randolph on Thursday. The Clippers' power forward managed only two rebounds and was whistled for five personal fouls, and much of that struggle came at the hands of Randolph.
"I know he is going to go over his right shoulder and go to that left hand, so I try to make him finish over the top," Griffin said. "But he's a great low-post player for a reason. You have to do your work early. You can't let him catch deep and get you in that position."
When Randolph establishes that deep position Griffin referenced, as he did on Thursday night, success usually follows. When the Grizzlies ran the high pick-and-roll with
Mike Conley and Randolph, Gasol would fill the space behind the initial action where he'd find open space for a face-up jumper.
"Zach did a great job of rolling," Gasol said. "Both [defenders] had to tag. Mike found me and I was able to take a couple of those jumpers."
Gasol scored 16 points and collected eight rebounds. The Defensive Player of the Year was true to his namesake, anchoring a defense that returned to form in Game 3, giving up only 84 points on 91 possessions, unofficially.
"Everybody who played did their job," Gasol said. "That doesn't always mean making shots, but defensively I think we did a much better job of communicating and loading and keeping them out of offensive rebounds."
Memphis didn't always make its shots. In fact, the Grizzlies converted only 38.8 percent of their attempts from the field, the exact same mark as the Clippers. But the Grizzlies won the game on the margins, by controlling possessions, forcing turnovers, finding second shots. This is how Memphis has typically done it -- without style points. Hell, without many points
at all.
This is a reality the Grizzlies can live with. In fact, it's where they're most comfortable.
"Win or lose, you're always going to be who you are," Gasol said.
