Bears down: Rockets hand Grizz one of NBA season’s biggest losses
You knew that at some point, all those injuries were going to catch up with the Memphis Grizzlies, and man, did the bill ever come due on Monday night.
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Already playing without Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, Mario Chalmers, Brandan Wright, Chris “Grizzzilla” Andersen and Jordan Adams, the Grizzlies announced before Monday’s meeting with the Houston Rockets that they’d also be without swingmen Lance Stephenson and Vince Carter. That meant Memphis would taking on James Harden and company with eight healthy players, including three — guards Briante Weber and Ray McCallum, and big man Alex Stepheson — who arrived late last week on 10-day contracts.
This time, though, the eight-man Grizzlies couldn’t mount a shocking upset of a healthy foe. Quite the opposite, in fact: Memphis got annihilated, as the Rockets raced out to a 21-6 lead less than five minutes into the first quarter and never looked back. They led by double-digits for the final 40 minutes, by 20-plus for the final 29 minutes, by 30 or more for the final 21 minutes and by at least 40 for the final 16 minutes, crushing the Grizzlies with superior depth and talent to the tune of a 130-81 win.
For most teams, a 49-point beating would stand out as their worst loss of the year. The Grizzlies, however, are not most teams, and already boasted a 50-point drubbing at the hands of the Golden State Warriors back in November, which means the wounded bears now own a share of an ignominious bit of NBA history:
As it stands, it’s the third most lopsided defeat of the 2015-16 season, behind the Golden State loss and the San Antonio Spurs’ 51-point pasting of the Philadelphia 76ers in December. It very nearly outpaced them all; only a 3-pointer by forward JaMychal Green with five seconds left saved Memphis from a 52-point defeat that would have been the biggest loss in Grizzlies franchise history and would have tied the biggest win in Rockets franchise history. Let it never be said that JaMychal Green is not clutch.
Nine different Rockets scored in double figures, led by “whoops, just kidding, we wanted you all along” forward Donatas Motiejunas’ 18. Memphis shot just 29.7 percent from the field as a team — the only Grizzly to make more than half his shots was center Ryan Hollins, who scored 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting — and had fewer assists (14) than the Rockets had made 3-pointers (16, on 33 attempts). Newcomer Stepheson missed 12 of his 17 field-goal attempts, but grabbed 13 offensive rebounds (15 total) in just 25 minutes before fouling out. That, too, looks to be an odd bit of history:
So, at least there’s that!
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All 12 Rockets who played scored — only out-of-the-rotation forward Josh Smith got no spin, earning his fifth straight DNP-CD — and nobody on Houston played more than 27 1/2 minutes, meaning J.B. Bickerstaff’s team ought to have fresh legs when it welcomes the Los Angeles Clippers to Toyota Center on Wednesday night.
“It felt good” to log just 25 minutes, said a smiling Harden after finishing with 15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and three blocks, according to Kristie Rieken of The Associated Press. “I felt like I didn’t even go out there and play tonight.”
And yet, the game still counts, with Houston now sitting just a half-game behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the sixth spot out West. Luckily for Memphis, a 49-point loss still goes down as just one loss, same as the Blazers suffered on Monday, meaning the Grizzlies’ lead over Portland for the fifth seed holds fast at 4 1/2 games.
For now, the Grizzlies have to just hold on tight, try to weather the storm and hope that sooner or later, some reinforcements will be on the way. Unfortunately, and unbelievably, they might have exited Monday needing even more help:
When it rains, it pours, and after a night like Monday, there’s no team in the league that could use a sunny day more than Memphis.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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