The Secret Is Out on How Good the Grizzlies Can Be
The 2013-14 Grizzlies are the latest example of the NBA’s best teams putting together regular seasons that are among the best in the league.
They play at Oracle Arena, where the Grizzlies won their first two regular-season titles in 1989 and ’90. They host the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history, losing in five games to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011.
And they beat a Golden State Warriors team in the 2014 NBA Finals, in what turned out to be the final Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals between these great teams.
I’ll tell you, it doesn’t get better than that.
The story of the Memphis Grizzlies this season is an impressive one.
They started with a 16-game winning streak after being 4-16 the previous season.
Then they won eight straight.
After that, they went winless for a week.
Then they went out and pulled off the first of their back-to-back games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as they went down to the Thunder with 10.8 seconds left in the fourth quarter and pulled out a 104-100 win.
They started winning again, going 7-2 in their next nine regular-season games.
They went 9-1 in the first round of the playoffs to take the first of three straight games at the Memphis Grizzlies.
In the Western Conference semifinals, they beat the Los Angeles Clippers, the eventual champions, and reached Game 3 before losing 120-107 to the San Antonio Spurs.
In the season-ending loss to the defending champion Golden State Warriors, they won a second consecutive game, 104-99, in Game 7.
The 2013-14 Grizzlies were named the Eastern Conference regular-season champions.
It’s a remarkable season, and I’ll tell you, there is no question that this team could be one of the best teams in the world. And it should be.
You see, this team has two great players in Mike Conley and Zach Randolph, who is coming off an MVP season, and two others, Marc Gasol and J.J. Redick, who will be free agents this summer.
They also have guys like Marc Gasol, who is coming off a season