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GRIZZLIES OFF TO SIZZLING START
By William Larsha, Jr.,
Sports
Reporter/Columnist
for
The
Mid-South Tribune and the Black Information Highway
MEMPHIS, TN – November 28, 2012 - As of this writing, the Memphis
Grizzlies are the number one team in the NBA. They sport a record of
10-2 which is tops in the league. After an opening night loss to the
Los Angeles Clippers, the Grizzlies ran off 8 consecutive wins
before finally falling to the Denver Nuggets at home on November 19
by a score of
97-92.
Included in the impressive winning streak was an 18 point blowout
win against last years NBA champion Miami Heat and LeBron James in
Memphis on November 11 by a score of 108-86. The team then beat last
year's other NBA finalist, the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road 3
days later by double digits, 107- 97. And if that wasn't impressive
enough, they
rolled the Los Angeles Lakers, one of this year’s championship
favorites, 106-98 on November 23 at FedEx Forum. The Grizzlies
continued the hot start with an 84-78 win over Cleveland on the
26th.
Though it is still early in a long NBA season, the Grizzlies are
showing themselves to be real contenders in the Western Conference.
They continue to win with hustle and a devastating inside game with
Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, who is playing like his old self
again. Randolph has had double digit points and rebounds in each of
the 12 games played thus far. In fact Randolph is averaging nearly
17 pointsand 13 rebounds per game.
After a tough game against Cleveland where the team trailed for most
of the game before coming back in the fourth quarter, Grizzlies
guard Tony Allen said, "I don't think we ever gave up. All we kept
thinking about was the Denver game where we didn't have much energy.
We didn't want to let this one slip. We just clawed and clawed and
clawed. We were just able to get some stops to sustain the lead and
came away with the win."
Allen's quote perfectly describes this team’s attitude. While some
of the wins are not pretty and the Grizzlies fall behind at times,
they seem to keep clawing. They hope to claw their way to a December
that is just as hot as their start in November has been.
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