After the OKC loss on Saturday, I posted a gif of Carol Burnett slamming her head through a wall. It was that kind of loss.
So what kind of game was the 82-107 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night?
Yes. Yawn. Look at your watch to see if you can still catch the second half of Monday Night Football.
Looking at your watch was more exciting than watching last night’s game, particularly in the fourth quarter, when Miami rattled off nearly 40 points. There’s not a whole lot more to say about the game itself, but here it is: If you can’t score, then you better play defense. The Grizzlies did neither, and lost.
So, let’s get to the really interesting stuff — postgame remarks. More than most nights, I found remarks from Coach J.B. Bickerstaff and Grizzlies Center Marc Gasol to be insightful into the mood, morale and chemistry of the team. You can obviously see those issues on the court — when you’re not yawning and looking at your watch — but both Coach and Gasol put words to what’s going on with the team in that coded PR language that NBA types use.
For instance, Bickerstaff acknowledging his team’s effort (or lack thereof):
“You have to play with a certain conviction in order to be successful in this league and the pace of what we are doing, the speed of which we cut, the level of execution. Tonight it just wasn’t there. Every one of us has to look in the mirror, wake up tomorrow and figure out what our choice is going to be.”
And Marc Gasol’s latest grumblings about playing as a team:
“I always believe that talk is great and we’re all going to say the right things and we can sit down and sing Kumbaya, but it’s more about grabbing it and taking ownership of the things we have to do—each and every one of us. I have to do a better job. Whatever the point guard is, guard three men, four men. The bench has to figure out how to play together more consistently, and we all do as a team. It starts with every single one of us doing our job every single time. Then we can figure whether we’re right or wrong, but until we do that, it’s going to be hard.”
Next, the team plays in Washington on Wednesday night, then back at home for another weekend back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks and the Boston Celtics.
Here’s hoping they find some defense when they look in the mirror.
