By Michael Wallace
Grind City Media
SACRAMENTO – Two takeaways from the Grizzlies’ winless, four-game road trip and a look-ahead to Wednesday’s matchup against the Indiana Pacers at FedExForum.
TAKE ONE … The Stress of Gasol’s Foot Strain
The Grizzlies will maintain a cautious approach with Marc Gasol as the All-Star center continues to deal with a left foot strain that has kept him out of the past two games.
Officially, Gasol remains “day-to-day” and is likely to spend the bulk of Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning receiving round-the-clock treatment on the foot before his status is addressed in advance of Wednesday night’s visit from the Pacers. Grizzlies coach David Fizdale said he was encouraged to see Gasol go through a conditioning workout to test the foot before Monday’s loss to the Kings.
He’s just day-to-day at this point…The fact that it’s his non-surgical foot, that’s a positive.
— Coach David Fizdale
The team has emphasized the soreness Gasol is currently dealing with in his left foot is completely unrelated to the right foot that required surgery last February to repair a fractured navicular bone. Gasol has come back from that season-ending surgery to post the best offensive numbers of his career in scoring (19.9 ppg) and three-point shooting (96-of-252).
“He’s just day-to-day at this point,” Fizdale said told Grind City Media. “The fact that it’s his non-surgical foot, that’s a positive. But we just have to see what’s up with him over these next few days. As long as he’s moving, that’s a good thing. I think it’s just swelling and soft-tissue type stuff.”
The demoralizing loss to Sacramento dropped the Grizzlies to 1-4 this season without Gasol, who struggled through the first two games of the trip in losses to the Pelicans and Spurs before undergoing tests on the foot that revealed the strain. Gasol was already in the midst of by far his least productive month of an otherwise breakout season. In March, he is averaging 15.7 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting just 41.5 percent from the field overall and only 28.9 percent from three-point range.
With eight games remaining and the Grizzlies all but locked into the No. 7 seed, entering Tuesday 2 ½ games behind sixth-place Oklahoma City and 4 ½ games ahead of the eighth spot, there seems to be some flexibility in the approach with Gasol.
One train of thought is that it would be prudent to focus on treatment and rest for the nine-year veteran and give the foot as much time to heal as possible before the playoffs. On the other hand, the Grizzlies don’t want to limp into the postseason – literally or figuratively – and desperately need to reestablish cohesion with Gasol in the lineup as soon as possible.
Fizdale indicated the team is inclined to err on the side of caution with Gasol, who has spent the past four days receiving extensive treatment, electronic stimulation and massages on the foot.
“It’s nothing structural that we have to be totally concerned about,” Fizdale said. “But with a big guy’s feet, you’re always a little worried. So you want to be extra cautious.”
TAKE TWO … Save the 2-Minute Report
Count the Grizzlies among teams in the league who aren’t fans of the NBA’s Last Two Minutes Reports that are distributed as a review of controversial calls made by referees at the end of close games.
Memphis fully expected to be exonerated once the reports are released for Monday night’s games, which included its 91-90 loss to the Kings on a pair of game-winning free throws by Darren Collison. The most critical play in question came with 5.7 seconds remaining, when referee Kevin Scott called a foul on Grizzlies guard Andrew Harrison as he was defending Collison’s drive to the basket.
Replays appeared to show that Harrison never made contact with Collison as he lost his balance and tossed up a wild floater in the lane. Harrison, Vince Carter, Mike Conley and Zach Randolph all converged in the lane to contest the errant shot attempt as Collison fell to the floor.
That play came after Randolph’s two free-throws capped a rally from an eight-point deficit midway through the fourth to put the Grizzlies ahead 90-89 with 32.9 seconds left. Randolph also had another shot to win it after Collison’s free throws, but his three-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
“I felt it was a good look, but it just didn’t fall,” Randolph said. “We just have to get out of this slump and keep playing and try to give ourselves a chance to win. We had a couple of breakdowns before that. It’s tough right now, but it’s about sticking together and going out and trying to get the next one.”
In addition to the controversial call that didn’t go their way, the Grizzlies also have several miscues of their own that cost them late in the game. After a sluggish stretch heading into the fourth quarter, Fizdale lambasted players in the huddle about their lack of focus and lapses, particularly in transition defense.
Memphis was also out of timeouts in the final sequence that led to Collison’s free throws because Fizdale used his final one with 32.3 seconds left after an extended replay review that awarded the ball to the Grizzlies. Using the timeout then to replace Tony Allen for Vince Carter prevented Fizdale from getting Allen, the Grizzlies’ best perimeter defender, back into the game for the Kings’ last possession.
Memphis was also outscored a combined 48-15 in fastbreak points in the losses to Golden State and Sacramento on consecutive nights. Although the Grizzlies’ defense has been relatively solid for most of the trip, the breakdowns have all come in the final six minutes of the fourth quarter in each game. Point guard Mike Conley believes constant rotation changes, partly the result of nagging injuries, have been a factor in the inconsistent performances in crunch time of recent games.
The Grizzlies opened the trip with Allen, the starting shooting guard, sidelined by knee soreness and finished the trip without Gasol available for the back-to-back setbacks against the Warriors and Kings.
“We’re trying to search for lineups that help and work, and we’re putting guys in different positions that they haven’t been in all season … in the crunch time of the year,” Conley said. “It’s to be expected, but we have to weather the storm. It’s a different storm than the previous five-game losing streak.”
WHAT’S NEXT … A Supposedly Easy Path to Playoffs?
According to at least one metric, the Grizzlies now have the easiest remaining schedule in the league as the try to regain their footing before the playoffs. Entering this week, the combined winning percentage of Memphis’ final nine opponents was .368, which is the lowest facing any team in the NBA.
But that also included the Kings, who proved that there are no pushovers – especially when it comes to the reeling Grizzlies (40-34), who have lost nine of their past 13 games. Memphis has been on a roller-coaster in which a season-long, five-game losing streak was followed by a four-game winning streak, which was then capped by the current four-game skid.
Only three of the Grizzlies’ eight remaining opponents carried a winning record into Tuesday. One of those teams is Indiana (37-36), which beat the Grizzlies in the first game back from the All-Star break. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that six of the final eight regular-season games are at FedExForum.
“We don’t care about no playoff seeding or anything else right now other than getting back to playing like we’re capable of playing,” Allen said. “It boils down to communication, no excuses. And we’ve got to get better in that area in a hurry.”
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