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| Selected to his 1st All-Star Game this season, Marc Gasol will be tough for the undermanned Nets to guard |
The Nets look to break their current six-game losing streak against the Western Conference fringe-playoff team, the Memphis Grizzlies. The injury-depleted Nets will be helped out by the presence of recent D-League call-up, small forward Andre Emmett who has shown in the NBDL that he can do basically everything on the court to help teams win games as he can shoot, score at the hoop, rebound well, and even has solid court vision of the passing lanes. I'm not saying he's the savior, actually, he's far from it. However, he will undoubtedly help this team out in at least some way, even if that impact is only felt in a few minutes of playing time.
Background on Memphis
Like I said above, the Grizzlies are a talented team, but in the tough Western Conference, they are only tied for the 8th-seed with Portland. If Memphis was in the East, they would have been the 8th-seed outright and two games in the loss column out of the 7th-seed. I like to compare Memphis to the Atlanta Hawks because both teams have tons of talent on their respective rosters but seem to underachieve year-in and year-out. It is also important to remember that, like the Nets, the Grizzlies are missed their best big man, power forward Zach Randolph, due to injury so the whole "injury" excuse doesn't seem to be in play this game for the oft-injured Nets.
Previous Game
Memphis bounced back from a tough loss to the Jazz on Sunday to beat their divisional rival, the Houston Rockets, last night in a relatively low-scoring 93-83 home win. Mike Conley and Rudy Gay led the scoring for the Grizzlies with 21 and 20 respectively but the true reason that they were able to win this game was because of their smothering defense of the normally explosive Houston offense. The Rockets were held to a rough 39 percent from the field and normal sharpshooter Kevin Martin didn't even register a point in the game. Memphis was able to take control of this game early and held the lead throughout to secure the win.
The Nets weren't so successful in their last game as they were beaten by the leaders of the Grizzlies' Southwest Division, the San Antonio Spurs, by the score of 103-89. Even though the Nets played with much more effort than in the two previous losses to the Detroit Pistons, but they just couldn't hit enough shots to keep up the balanced Spurs who scored tons on points from both the starters and the players coming off the bench. In his 2nd game back from a toe injury, Marshon Brooks' shot was way off as he only went 2-10 from the floor and the same was true to some extent for Anthony Morrow who shot well from the floor but shot an uncharacteristic 1-4 from behind the 3-point arc for the Nets. D-Will was his usual dynamic self with 27 points and eight assists. The Spurs' depth just proved to be too much for the overmatched Nets squad.
Probable Lineups
MEM- Conley (PG), Allen (SG), Gay (SF), Speights (PF), Gasol (C)
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), She. Williams (C)
Three Keys to a Nets Victory
1. Give Memphis the open 3-point attempts- The Grizzlies take and make the least amount of 3-pointers in the NBA with only 3.4 made threes per game and 11.1 attempts (they are also 21st in 3PT%). This is very welcome news for the Nets who have been horrendous at guarding the perimeter this season and probably shouldn't even try to do that tonight. It would be better Memphis to jack up threes all game so the undersized Nets defenders can stay home on the rest of the Grizzlies to better defend their drives to the paint. Memphis is at its most explosive when they take closer-to-the-hoop shots rather than longer distance jump-shots.
2. Get Marc Gasol in foul trouble early- Let's face it, Marc Gasol is huge and the 7'1" Spaniard will easily be able to take advantage of the shorter Nets' interior defenders, namely the 6'9" Shelden Williams and fellow 6'9" player Kris Humphries. Both of those players are normally decent on defense but they won't be able to control Gasol on the post or even in the mid-range with his normally accurate 15-footer. The only way for the Nets to limit the offensive impact that Gasol extends on this game is to cut down his playing time which is easiest accomplished by getting the center in foul trouble early. If Gasol can't play much tonight, then the Nets will have a solid chance at a win.
3. Control the glass-Due to Memphis' all-around athleticism, they crash the boards hard especially on the offensive end of the spectrum. The Grizzlies average the 4th-most offensive rebounds per game in the NBA which could pose a huge problem to the defensive-rebounding challenged Nets who, in fact, are last in the NBA in defensive rebounding per game. If New Jersey is going to have any hopes of leaving the Prudential Center tonight with a win, they are going to need to bear down on the defensive, and offensive, glass and limit the amount of second chances and additional shot opportunities that the Grizzlies get in this game.
I'm going to go against the grain with my pick for tonight's game as I am going to predict a low-scoring, sloppy 85-80 Nets win against the Grizz. It may not be the most factually-based prediction but all losing streaks have to end eventually and without Shawne Williams for the game, I feel that the Nets will feel a boost with his absence and pull through with a tough W.
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