Tag: Zach Randolph

Gasol avoids brotherly bragging

Grizzlies center Marc Gasol talks and texts nearly every day with older brother Pau, the four-time All-Star center for the Lakers.

But he knew better than to dial big brother’s cell phone on Sunday night, no matter how much he wanted to share the joy of his role in helping the Grizzlies get the first playoff victory in franchise history.

“I knew he did not have a good game, and I knew they lost,” Gasol said, “so I knew he wouldn’t be talking a lot.”

Marc Gasol made 9 of 10 shots and scored 24 points Sunday in the No. 8-seed Grizzlies’ 101-98 victory over the top-seeded Spurs in Game 1 of their first-round series that will resume Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Pau Gasol missed 7 of 9 shots and scored only eight points in a 109-100 loss to the No. 7-seed New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles.

For one night, brotherly love won out over sibling rivalry. But Marc Gasol can take personal pride in knowing he accomplished something with the Grizzlies that Pau Gasol could not in six-plus seasons as Memphis’ starting center — a playoff victory.

The younger Gasol was a pudgy, 23-year-old 7-footer when he arrived in Memphis in 2008, part of the trade that sent his brother to the Lakers.

He has become one of the better centers in the NBA after dropping more than 20 pounds last summer and gaining confidence that he could play in the post. He averaged 11.7 points and 8.0 rebounds in 81 games this season, teaming with Zach Randolph to give the Grizzlies a beefy, 1-2 punch in the middle.

His progress and potential have been so impressive that Randolph made certain the Grizzlies intended to keep Gasol around before he agreed to sign a $71 million contract extension that will keep him in Memphis for an additional four years.

Randolph agreed to the new deal during the weekend.

“Marc is great, man,” Randolph said. “He has such a high IQ for the game. That’s what I love about him. He’s been playing so long and playing against older guys, because he was playing overseas. He’s a great player. I love playing with him. He plays the right way.”

The Spurs have a healthy respect for Gasol’s skills, though Spurs captain Tim Duncan admitted he occasionally wandered a bit from his defensive assignment on Gasol to keep an eye on Randolph, Memphis’ top scorer against the Spurs in four regular-season games.

“I gave him a bit of an easy time in there trying to have half an eye on Zach, instead of just focusing on Marc,” Duncan said, promising to have “a little better focus in that respect” in Game 2.

Spurs guard Tony Parker didn’t fault Duncan. Gasol, he said, simply had one of those “can’t miss” games.

“He got a lot of points,” Parker said. “He’s not going to play like that the whole series.”

Gasol understands his 90 percent shooting isn’t apt to continue through the series.

“That won’t happen,” he said. “I guarantee that.”

Battier’s shot puts Spurs in early hole

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

Spurs forward Matt Bonner never saw the decisive 3-pointer leave Shane Battier’s hand, much less it ripping through the net.

“I had Zach Randolph’s elbow in my mouth at the time,” Bonner said.

Bonner had a better view of 3-point tries from George Hill and Richard Jefferson that could have salvaged Sunday’s Game 1 against Memphis for the Spurs.

“Both looked good,” Bonner said.

Both bounced off.

The difference in the Spurs’ 101-98 playoff-opening loss to Memphis at the ATT Center was the difference in a lot of games and a lot of series.

Three players toed the 3-point stripe in the final 30 seconds. One of them made the shot. The others didn’t.

Battier’s 3-pointer with 23.9 seconds left provided the go-ahead points for eighth-seeded Memphis, which earned the first playoff win in club history.

In defeat, the Spurs became the first No. 1 seed to lose Game 1 of a first-round series since the 2007 Dallas Mavericks, who later in that opening matchup with Golden State became the only top seed in the best-of-7 era to be bounced in the first round.

“We didn’t do enough down the stretch,” said Spurs forward Tim Duncan, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds. “That was the game right there.”

Playing without guard Manu Ginobili, out with a sprained right elbow, the Spurs faced the rare task of needing to steal Game 1 on their home floor.

Had it not been for Battier, they might have.

Randolph had 25 points and 14 rebounds for Memphis, 0-12 in playoff games before Sunday, while Marc Gasol had 24 points and nine rebounds.

But the game’s biggest shot came from the guy they call “Granddaddy Shane.” Battier, a 32-year-old original Memphis Grizzlie who returned in a February trade from Houston, knows what the win meant to fans back home.

“I know Beale Street will be a fun place tonight,” Battier said.

Meanwhile, back in San Antonio, they might has well shut down the Riverwalk until Game 2 on Wednesday.

The Spurs, at least, have been here before. They have now lost six straight Game 1s, rallying to win two of the previous five series.

Last season, the Spurs recovered from a Game 1 loss at Dallas to win that first-round series in six games.

“We understand the challenges that are in front of us,” said Jefferson, who had 13 points and six rebounds. “To get where we want to get, it’s not going to be easy.”

Much went right for the Spurs in Game 1, which — depending on perspective — made the loss more or less palatable to them.

They outrebounded the Grizzlies 40-38, including an 11-5 edge on the offensive glass, won the second-chance battle 15-5 and attempted 47 foul shots (though, in another story, they missed 11).

Given all that, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t see a crying need for sweeping changes heading into Game 2.

“It wasn’t like we got beat by 25,” Popovich said.

Tony Parker finished with 20 points to lead the Spurs but was 4 of 16 from the field. It was his defensive error that freed Battier long enough to swish the deciding 3-pointer.

Before Battier could break the Spurs’ hearts, he watched Bonner nearly do the same to the Grizzlies.

Channeling his inner Robert Horry, Bonner nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Spurs a 96-94 lead with 1:28 to go.

“You were like going, ‘Uh-oh, here we go again,’ ” Battier said. “How many times have the Spurs done that in big games in this facility?”

Hill made a pair of free throws to push the Spurs ahead by four with 1:06 to play and suddenly, the Spurs seemed poised to do to the Grizzlies what the East’s top seed, Chicago, did to eighth-seeded Indiana the day before.

Down the stretch, however, it was the team without a playoff victory to its name — and not the team that had hung four banners in the rafters — that locked down the game.

After Battier’s 3-pointer put Memphis ahead 99-98, Hill missed an open look in the right corner. After a pair of Tony Allen foul shots pushed the Grizzlies’ edge to three points, Jefferson back-rimmed a shot from the top of the key as time expired.

“I had a great look,” Jefferson said. “Just didn’t knock it down.”

Hill framed his own misfire, part of a 2-for-7 outing, in similar terms.

“It felt good,” he said, “but it didn’t go my way.”

Three players lined up 3-pointers late Sunday afternoon. Only one of them went down. And the Grizzlies have a 1-0 series lead because of it.

Is Ginobili return in the script?

By Mike Monroe
mikemonroe@express-news.net

A brace on his right arm limiting full extension of his sprained right elbow, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was on the court at the close of the Spurs practice session on Saturday, working on his shot.

It was enough to encourage teammates. Some now believe he will suit up for today’s playoff game at ATT Center against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Though his status for Game 1 of the Western Conference first-round series hasn’t changed — head coach Gregg Popovich reiterated that his team’s No. 2 scorer remains doubtful — Ginobili has participated in preparations to make sure he is ready if he is cleared.

“He’s been practicing, doing the script,” said starting forward Richard Jefferson. “We haven’t gone full contact the last couple of days. For the most part, he’s been scripting and doing everything else and working out.”

Only the team’s medical staff and coaches will have final say on Ginobili’s availability, but point guard Tony Parker said Ginobili sitting out the game was inconceivable.

“To me,” Parker said, “it’s almost impossible that he’s not going to play.”

DEAR TIM: Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins had a simple message Saturday for Spurs captain Tim Duncan: We did not “tank” the last two games of the regular season so we could play the Spurs.

A victory in their season finale against the Clippers would have put the Grizzlies in the No. 7 seed in the Western playoffs, against the Lakers.

Duncan on Wednesday night told Express-News beat writer Jeff McDonald he believed the Grizzlies had chosen the Spurs as a first-round opponent by sitting leading scorer and rebounder Zach Randolph and starting forward Tony Allen in the final two games.

After running his team through a practice session at the ATT Center, Hollins looked straight into the TV cameras videotaping an interview and directed remarks to Duncan.

“I just want to say this for Tim Duncan: We did not tank the season so we can get the San Antonio Spurs,” Hollins said. “In fact, my thought process had nothing to do with the San Antonio Spurs. It had to do with us being healthy coming into this series, whatever series it was going to be. I was only concerned about our health.”

MEMPHIS CONNECTIONS: Spurs guard George Hill and Memphis guard Mike Conley grew up as friends and adversaries in Indianapolis. Hill starred at Broad Ripple High School.

Conley, two years Hill’s junior, played at Lawrence North High.

Spurs center DeJuan Blair and Memphis small forward Sam Young played two college seasons together at Pittsburgh from 2007 to 2009.

Staff writer Jeff McDonald contributed to this report.