The wait is over: Memphis Grizzlies return to the NBA playoffs after a three-year absence. Those from Tennessee have done it in the play in, to Monday: they debuted the new format with a loss to the Trail Blazers, in the Florida bubble. Now they have retaliated. Like then, they left as ninth from the West. But this time they have won two high-level matches to be in the playoffs. First they got rid of Gregg Popovich’s Spurs, who link two years of absence, just like the Warriors, the victim of the Grizzlies in a definitive game in which those of the Bay were very favorites and had the home court factor in their favor.
But young Taylor Jenkins, a young coach (36 years old) with more nuts than noise (He does a great job and there is very little talk about him), the forecasts have blown up. Now comes a duel with the Jazz in which the Grizzlies have very few options but they will surely fight as far as they can. It will be the playoff debut of a project that is rebuilding much faster than expected, practically express. After airing the golden age of grit and grind, they expected years in workshop For a franchise that’s gone, however, making excellent draft decisions, whether with high picks (Ja Morant was No. 2 and Jaren Jackson Jr, 4) or much lower: last November they maneuvered wonderfully to finish (they were not their choices) with Desmond Bane (number 30) and Xavier Tillman (35). Two resounding successes. Gone are the times when he missed dramatically with the giant Hasheem Thabeet, chosen with number 2 in the 2009 draft, ahead of James Harden, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan …
The merit of these Grizzlies is enormous: According to journalist Rachel Nichols of ESPN, it is the youngest average age team to make the playoffs since OKC Thunder in 2011 with the historic Kevin Durant-James Harden-Russell Westbrook trio. On July 6, 2019, the era of grit and grind, fabulous years of maximum competitiveness and old school basketball that fell in love with the city of Memphis, was definitely buried with the transfer of Mike Conley to the Utah Jazz. The point guard, a Grizzlies legend, will now face his former team between 2007 and 2019. Before, on February 7, se broke the charismatic partnership that the point guard formed with Marc Gasol, who was traded to Toronto Raptors, where only a few months later he was NBA champion. The Grizzlies had been left out of the 2018 playoffs and the generational relief was necessary after seven years in a row in the playoffs (2011-17), three seasons of 50 or more wins and a final in the West. The golden age, for now, of the franchise.
And here comes the fun fact, remembered by Hoopshype after the game against the Warriors: It will be the first time that the Grizzlies, who were born in 1995 (they just passed the quarter century), have played the playoffs without a Gasol in their roster. After six years without success in Vancouver (that’s where the bears come from) they moved to Memphis in 2001, with a Pau Gasol rookie (number 3 in that draft) in their suitcases. Pau was Rookie of the Year and franchise player of the team that, later, played three consecutive playoff seasons (2004-06), always with eliminations in the first round and without winning a game (0-12 total).
After staying out in 2007 and with his cycle already completed in the team, Pau was traded to the Lakers on February 1, 2008. In LA he won his two champion rings and the transfer, considered at the time one of the largest robberies In history, it was not ultimately so bad because the Grizzlies received the rights to Marc, Pau’s brother who had been drafted by the Lakers (number 48 in 2007). Marc made the leap in the summer of 2008 and ended up being (three times all star, Defender of the Year …) one of the pillars of that unforgettable team of the grit and grind: el español, Conley, Zach Randolph, Tony Allen… Now the Grizzlies return to the playoffs for the tenth time, this time without Pau (in the first three) and Marc (in the next seven). New Times.
