Hornets fall to Grizzlies in Memphis

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Published: April 18, 2012

In the third, the Grizzlies turned up the pressure, and the Hornets wilted.

The Grizzlies really did come out taking the game lightly.  Their first seven shots were all long jumpers before Lionel Hollins got a chance to yell at his guys and have them start attacking.  That helped some, but it wasn’t until after halftime, and another reported reaming by Hollins that the Grizzlies came out and showed why they are a playoff team.

Vasquez was game to try, but when the Grizz came out strong he couldn’t get past the quick-footed defense of Conley, and Tony Allen’s sticky defense kept Marco from being able to set his feet, resulting in a lot of misses.  Under that pressure, the Hornets turned the ball over multiple times, and then tried to counter by running the offense through Aminu, who was being guarded by the always lackadaisical Rudy Gay.  Unfortunately, Aminu’s passes were errant, he only attacked Gay directly once, (traveled) and the experiment was short lived.

In fact, tonight the only Hornet who could consistently get into the teeth of the Grizzly defense was young Jerome Dyson, who looks like the love child of Keven Durant and Ray Allen.   Dyson was hyper aggressive attacking the hoop and showed a nice ability to finish around the rim and draw contact.   He had a sick crossover as he chased Randolph down the lane, and he seems to have a nice grasp of the finger roll. He finished with 24 points and 16 free throw attempts.  Nice.

Dyson, Jason Smith, Carl Landry, and pre-intense defense Vasquez were the only truly effective members of the Hornets tonight, which is somewhat disappointing.  I was hoping Aminu and Henry would continue their strong play through the end of the season, but the last few games have been pretty hard to watch.

With the loss, the Hornets hold on to the 3rd worst record in the league with their fingernails, so even with the shellacking that happened in the third, I still felt good at the end of the night.

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