Quick Thoughts About the Win Against the Grizzlies

We won our second game in a row without playing great.  We allowed the Grizzlies to shoot over 50%, 50.7% to be precise, which is not great.  However, we kept them at arm's length and got the 'W'.

Boards.  Maybe We Are Good.

Look no further than the rebounding for why we won this game.  The Grizzlies are the second best rebounding team (I bet they were the best before the game) in the league and the best offensive rebounding team.  I've gotten the impression, and I'm not going to do the research, that we have struggled against the better rebounding teams this season while feasting on the poor teams to inflate our numbers.

Not so last night.  We beat them 38-32 on the glass.  That is a 54.3% rebound rate. The Cavs lead the league at 52.8% with the Grizz at 52.7%.  We are now third at 52.3%.   To have such a strong rebounding performance against such a great rebounding team is a very good sign of our ability to dominate the glass.

And while the Grizz shot over 50%, we only allowed them 5 offensive rebounds.  They normally get a third of the misses back and last night they got 16.7%.  You can when games when the other team is making shots if you take care of the defensive boards.  We did that against Memphis.

Lastly, we got our boards from the guys who should be rebounding.  DeJuan had 10, Tim had 9, and Antonio had 8.  Btw, anybody else noticing that Antonio is looking really good the last few games.

Put Me On The Z-Bo Fan Bus

I'll be honest.  I've never liked Zach.  I've called him lazy.  I've called him a chucker.  I thought Memphis completely screwed up by trading for his baby face and bloated contract.  I was dead wrong.

I liked everything he did last night.  He has mad scoring skills, which we all know.  But I liked all of his game last night.  He played really solid defense on Tim on several occasions.  His body language was great.  He moved the ball a fair amount.  He absolutely deserves to be an all-star.  He seemed like a genuinely good guy.

If he is 6' 9" and Tim is 6' 11", then they aren't using the same measurement system.  Tim is quite a bit taller than Zach.  It was ridiculously obvious.

I'm Proud of My George Hill Jersey

I'll be honest.  I've always liked George Hill.  I was dead right.

One or two games ago, I can't remember, George made a spin move to the basket that was just sick.  It really caught my eye because he usually doesn't create much going to the basket in the half-court offense.

Then last night happened.  I guess with Tony out for the night, George decided he needed to be aggressive.  Wow.  What great results.  He attacked the rim in transition several times and really seemed to understand that if he was going to play starter minutes then he couldn't be just a role player on offense.  George didn't even attempt a 3-pt attempt, so he didn't get a lot of his 18 points off other guys kick outs.  George developing a game where he generates his own offense, along with his improved 3-point shot, makes us much more dangerous.

For the record, I was wearing my Hill jersey last night.  I'd like to give you more analysis on the game, but I was in pure fan mode.  And I was pretty loud.  Just.  So.  You.  Know.