By Michael Wallace
Grind City Media
MIAMI – Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph is expected to miss his second straight game Saturday while away from the team following the death of his mother earlier this week.
Memphis coach David Fizdale said he informed Randolph to “take as much time as he needs” to be with his family as they mourn the loss of Mae Randolph, who died on Thanksgiving day. The cause of death was not immediately disclosed. Randolph has been away from the team since he returned with the Grizzlies just after midnight Thursday morning from Wednesday’s victory in Philadelphia.
The Grizzlies wrap up a back-to-back set Saturday in Miami against the Heat, who stunned Memphis with a 90-81 win at FedExForum on Friday. Teammates and coaches said Randolph’s absence has a deep emotional impact on the team as they try to forge ahead with the season until he returns.
“We care so much about Zach and his family,” Grizzlies center Marc Gasol said. “We’ve been together for a long time, and it’s been a tough two days for us, especially the guys who have been here and know his family. Our thoughts are with him. He knows that, and we’ve been communicating with him.”
Mae Randolph has regularly attended Grizzlies games in the family’s section of seats just behind the scorers’ table at FedExForum. Randolph is one game shy of reaching 1,000 for his career, with nearly half of those contests coming in a Grizzlies’ uniform. The 15-year veteran has emerged as an early candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging 14.2 points and 7.9 rebounds in 22.1 minutes. His streak of 11 consecutive games in double figures off the bench is the longest by a player this season.
The Grizzlies struggled to adjust without Randolph on Friday, when coach David Fizdale elected, in part, to bring point guard Mike Conley off the bench to fill the scoring void on the second unit. Memphis got off to a slow start, fell behind by double digits early and never led throughout the game.
“I don’t want to give any excuses,” Fizdale said as he shifted focus to Saturday’s game. “I’m sure they had heavy hearts. We all did. Zach is a big part of our team personality. If we had played great, we would’ve said we played well because of Zach. I don’t want to put it on that.”
Gasol said the Grizzlies have another chance to collect themselves on the court Saturday despite their thoughts being with a grieving teammate off the court.
“The thing with Zach that we can all relate to is that we all have family members that have passed,” Gasol said. “It’s hard but once you get into your routine, everything else changes. You feel weird but you have to go through it. It’s hard, but you still have to do your job.”
HEALTH REPORT
The maintenance program led to Conley coming off the bench and playing just 23 minutes Friday after his 45-minute effort in Wednesday’s double-overtime win in Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Gasol started and logged just 26 minutes against Miami. Regardless how it adds up, one can argue that the team’s proactive health approach cost the Grizzlies a game they should have won. The big-picture perspective is important, but so is winning winnable games, especially at home. It will be interesting to see the approach with Conley and Gasol on the second night of this back-to-back set tonight in Miami. James Ennis (elbow), Chandler Parsons (knee), Brandan Wright (ankle) and Randolph (personal) are out. For the Heat, Goran Dragic (elbow) and Justise Winslow (wrist) are doubtful and Wayne Ellington (thigh) and Chris Bosh (medical) are out.
NUMBERS WATCH
2. Those are the number of points the Grizzlies scored directly off Miami’s nine turnovers Friday. When Memphis’ defense is at its rotating, suffocating, swarming best, it is scoring somewhere in the 20s off turnovers. That’s what made last night’s loss so startling. Miami was without its starting point guard, and the Grizzlies couldn’t capitalize. The 14 blocked shots were impressive, but that impact was mitigated by the 23 points Miami scored off 18 Memphis turnovers.
KEEP AN EYE ON
Jarell Martin. The bereavement absence of Randolph creates a huge opportunity for Martin to emerge as a go-to option on the Grizzlies’ second unit. Martin, a 6-9 power forward in his second season, had a career-high 12 rebounds in Friday’s loss to the Heat and was tied with reserve Troy Williams for the highest plus-minus rating on the team at plus-6. But Martin has to do more than settle for face-up jumpers and instead diversify his offensive game, especially around the basket. Fizdale recently said Martin was the most physically gifted player on the team, but he’s still very raw in a lot of ways. The Grizzlies will rely on Martin to show some of that promise and production in the next few games until Randolph returns.
GRIZZ-TAKE
Conley on constantly adjusting to lineup or rotation changes – Coach is always preaching, ‘Next man up.’ We’re a team that trusts every single guy on our team and there’s not one guy that doesn’t deserve to play. So when we lose a guy – when guys go down for a few games, then we have another guy ready to go. So we’re going to fill them in and they’re going to go as hard as they can.
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