The Post Up: Grizz Win Four Straight

by Holly MacKenzie

It’s a Monday, it’s a fun day. I’m going to continue telling myself that until this one is over.

I’ve got both Raptors and Nets shootarounds this morning, an afternoon article to get up and then the game tomorrow evening. After the game I have game notes for The Score and then of course, the Post Up.

And it only continues from there.

I will be running on fumes when I finally fly in to Nova Scotia. I cannot wait.

So, another weekend in the books. Lakers continue to let teams hang around. That’s really getting old and it is about to bite us in the ass if we don’t sort that out quickly.

The Hornets were in town yesterday to face the Raptors and I wrote some game notes over at The Best faces: Jose!Score. Check it out.

Seeing Chris Paul’s game-worn jersey hanging in Bosh’s locker postgame was cool.

Seeing Chris Paul pre, during and post game was also pretty cool. He’s spectacular. I know you all know this, but really, what else can I say, except I feel like I understand the game better after I watch him play. Seeing how unassuming and down-to-earth he is offcourt, only makes me like him more.

Really, go check out my notes!

Watched that double-overtime marathon between the Clippers and Blazers that saw both Brandon Roy and Zach Randolph end up with 38 points. My fantasy team was happy for Zach. The sentimental side of me was also happy to see him play so well against his old team.

Dirk had 46 over the weekend, but I’m still jacked over JJ Barea. I recall writing about him last season saying if only he’d get some time, we’d all see how talented he was. Game by game, he is proving he belongs and I couldn’t be happier.

Dwight went down Friday night against the Suns and missed the first game of his career Saturday night. He says he came down funny and felt some soreness in his knee and it isn’t anything serious, but the combo of knees and big men scare me. Here is hoping he’s back to normal as soon as possible.

Jamaal Magloire getting ejected from the game against Memphis in the final minutes for headbutting Darko Milicic was pretty entertaining. Add this to the list of reasons to love League Pass.

I’ve said it before, OJ Mayo is really, really good.

Only four games on the schedule and I took game notes from one of them, so lets get to the recaps.

Memphis 102 Miami 86

Four straight games now, the Memphis Grizzlies have felt the joy of winning. This has not happened since the 2005-06 season, and the players couldn’t be happier. Facing a Miami team that was hoping to grab a victory with Michael Beasley returning to the floor after missing the previous game with the flu, the Grizz took full advantage of the Heat and ran them into the ground. Led by OJ Mayo’s 28 points, Memphis shot 65% from the floor in the third quarter as they outscored Miami 35-20 and began to run away with the game going into the fourth up big, 81-66. The final quarter was more of the same as the Heat slowly spiraled out of control in the final minutes and were unable to stop Memphis. Besides Mayo’s 28, Rudy Gay scored 18 points and Milicic added 13 off of the bench. Beasley led the Heat with 20 points while Joel Anthony had 12 points and 13 rebounds and Dwyane Wade scored 17 in the loss.

San Antonio 109 Oklahoma City 104

Another close one, another loss. It kind of feels like groundhog day for the Thunder as they cannot seem to finish out a game with a victory. With this loss they drop to 2-23 and as frustrating as it is to watch, I cannot imagine living it. While the Spurs led big early and went up by as many as 26 points in the game, the Thunder kept coming at them and a 35-point fourth quarter saw them get to within two points in the final minute. Close, but not close enough as Manu Ginobili had a three-point pay with 28 seconds remaining to put the Spurs up 109-104 and Oklahoma City would not score again. Tony Parker led the Spurs with 22 points, Tim Duncan scored 20 points to go with 12 rebounds and Matt Bonner added 17. The Thunder were led by Jeff Green’s 33 points while Kevin Durant added 28 points and 13 rebounds.

LA Lakers 98 Minnesota 86

In another game against a lowly opponent the Lakers were almost embarrassed. Choosing to wait until the fourth quarter to decide to play defense, the Lakers took down the Timberwolves 98-86, but it was a closer game than the score shows. With the Lakers allowing the TWolves to hang around late into the fourth, a 6-0 run from Trevor Ariza and Kobe Bryant extended the Lakers lead to 12 and then they were able to go on to the victory from there. Bryant finished with 26 points, Pau Gasol scored 18 points to go with 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocked shots while Andrew Bynum added 14 points and 9 rebounds. The Timberwolves were led by Al Jefferson’s 20 points and 13 rebounds, 18 points from Craig Smith and 12 points off of the bench from Rashad McCants.