The Starting Lineup: Juice Steps Up, Grizzlies Upset Thunder

The Thunder seemed to have a three-man advantage in the early going, but OJ Mayo (22 points, dagger) and the Grizzlies were able to outlast them (and the officials, 94-88) in a physical battle.  After Oklahoma City had scored six straight points at the free-throw line to make it a one-point game, the Grizzlies elected to run a play for Rudy Gay, who was in the process of going 4-15.  As Gay got caught up in a double off of a pick and roll with Marc Gasol, I wondered why the Grizzlies hadn’t gone to OJ Mayo, who had been manufacturing the bulk of the offense in the second half.  By the time that thought could fully process the ball had already found its way out of a traffic jam and into the hands of Mayo…

…who delivered.  He then strutted straight to halfcourt and showed Oklahoma City his three-point finger pistols before vigorously shoving them into their holsters, just like Russell Westbrook does.  Drive home safely, everyone!  Not to play Captain Obvious, but this win had to feel positively righteous for Mayo and the Grizzlies, who were facing a season sweep at the hands of this same Thunder team that eliminated them in the seventh game of last season’s Western semis.  Fun fact: this was the 12th game in a row between these two teams decided by fewer than 10 points.  That’s the longest such streak in the NBA.

Mayo had left his mark on this game even before hitting the shot that ended it.  Juice dropped 11 of his team’s 15 points during a five-minute stretch that bridged the third and fourth quarters.  This was the same run during which Memphis extended a shaky two-point lead into a game-high nine-point lead.  OJ is on a bit of a roll right now, scoring 24 and 22 in his last two games… both Grizzly victories.  He’s doing this in the absence of Mike Conley, but he’s going to have to keep it up if the Grizzlies expect to make noise in the postseason.

Funny moment: Early in the second quarter, Quincy Pondexter was whistled for a foul he didn’t feel that he committed.  James Harden missed the ensuing free throw, so Pondexter predictably quoted Rasheed Wallace.  “Ball don’t lie,” he said.  Surprisingly, this earned him a technical foul.  Ironically, Harden missed that one too.

Oklahoma City’s six-game win streak is over. The longest current win streak in the league?  Seven, belonging to the San Antonio Spurs… who will play half of the 16 games they have left against sub-.500 teams.  At just 2.5 games back, can they catch the Thunder?  Eh… probably not; but if OKC drops road games against the Heat, Clippers, and Lakers, it’s a possibility.  San Antonio holds the tie-breaker, meaning they’d have to go 14-2 if OKC goes 10-3.  Like I said, probably not… but OKC risks leaving the door open if they don’t take care of business against teams they should beat.

On February 4th, 2004, 23-year-old Quentin Richardson made 8 of 11 threes on his way to 36 points as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Boston Celtics.  What does this have to do with anything?  Well, until last night, that was the last time an LA Clipper made 8 threes in a game.  Randy Foye tied Q’s franchise record as he rained a game-high 28 points on the Dallas Mavericks, leading to LA’s sixth consecutive victory (longest win streak in 20 years).  Foye was coming off games of 17 and 20 points, so it would be fair to say he’s been feeling it lately.  Mo Williams says he hopes to play “soon,” but it’s going to be awfully difficult for Vinny Del Negro to ask Foye to have a seat if “soon” comes during this heat wave.

It should be noted that Blake Griffin had 16 points and 15 boards on just 11 shots in last night’s 94-75 W.  Griffin hasn’t scored more than 27 in any single game during the streak, but he’s made 52 of his 79 total shot attempts.  That’s about 66%.  The Clippers are putting him in position to succeed right now, and for this reason they are succeeding.

Wes Matthews killed the Blazers all game long with 33 points on just 12 shots, but Raymond Felton came through in the end.  Up one in the final 1:30 and in need of a way to give Utah the lead back, Felton unselfishly dribbled the ball off of his own foot, sacrificing what little dignity he had left for the good of the team.  After the ensuing Paul Millsap dunk put the Jazz up one, Felton sealed the deal by allowing Jamaal Tinsley to strip him on a routine inbound pass.  The aforementioned Millsap (31/11) got himself another dunk and Utah went on to steal it 102-97.  Not only was Felton big down the stretch, but he carried the Blazers all the way, going 2-10 with 4 turnovers to lead the come-from-ahead effort.  “Nobody hates to lose,” said Felton.  No, I’m serious… he really said that.

Wes Matthews became the first player to score 33 points on as few as 12 shots since Yao Ming did it in December of 2008.  Prior to missing a three-pointer with just 52 seconds left Matthews had actually dropped 33 on just 11 attempts.  He hadn’t misfired since the first quarter, and he was yet to miss a three-pointer in the game (5-6).  Wes actually out-shot Yao by two makes (10-12 to 8-12).  When’s the last time someone dropped 30 while missing just two shots?  When’s the last time someone had 30 at any point in the game with just one miss?  Has that ever happened before?  I don’t have the answers to these questions, but I think simply asking them helps to put the incredible shooting night Wes had into perspective.

Goran Dragic continued his quest to become a young Slovenian bazillionaire as the Houston Rockets came back from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat the Chicago Bulls, who have now lost consecutive regular-season games for the first time in over a year.  Dragic scored 5 of his 21 and dished a pair of assists during a 26-8 (!!!) Rockets run that essentially took place during the final five minutes of the third quarter.  Ever since Dragic’s days as a Phoenix Sun I’ve felt that just a little bit of Steve Nash rubbed off on him, but I was never referring to his shooting.  Since becoming Houston’s interim starting point guard 14 games ago Dragic is nearly pulling a Nashty: 53% from the floor, 45% from three, and 81% from the line.  At first glance, Dragic doesn’t figure to be a Rocket much longer.  He’s a soon-to-be free agent, and Houston has Kyle Lowry locked up at somethin’ like $6 million a year through the next two seasons.  That being said… I can’t help but wonder if the Rockets are considering a long-term Goran Dragic movement.  The kid has a lot of pluses… he’s an excellent play maker, a surprisingly-good athlete, and a better shooter than Lowry.  He’s also 6’3, which doesn’t hurt.  Although Lowry and Dragic are about the same age I think Lowry is about as good as he’s gonna get while Dragic still has room to grow.  If Goran keeps the Rockets in the playoff hunt whilst leading the team in scoring every night on percentages like 50/40/80, they’ve got to at least consider going Goran on a permanent basis, don’t they?  I’m not trying to knock Kyle Lowry, by the way.  I just think Dragic is really good.

Box Score Observations: Ersan Ilyasova went for 16 and 11 as the Bucks moved to within two games of the Knicks by beating the Wizards 112-98.  Jordan Crawford had his 10th consecutive game of 17+.  The Wolves lost to the Kings 108-116, and Kevin Love has now failed to record a double-double in two consecutive games.  Maybe the world really is ending this year.  Tyreke Evans went Rookie-of-the-Year mode, nearly going for a triple dip (24/10/7).  Terrence Williams finished the game in place of Marcus Thornton, who left with a leg that felt “like it [was] about to explode.” T-Will used the opportunity to record a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.  He also showed us one of those signature right-handed claw dunks.

Highlight Recap, Putback Dunk Edition: Nick CollisonTaj GibsonJJ Hickson.  Blake Griffin…

You know what made Griffin’s extra-crazy-sick in live action?  You didn’t expect Foye to miss that three.  The guy had just nailed eight of them.  For this reason it was impossible to see it coming.

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