Deep Fried Couch

Sports. Movies. Food. Memphis.

You are here: Home / Archives for Link

Sam Amick: Grizzlies, Nets lead scary underdogs in NBA playoffs ➡

by •

Sam Amick from USA Today wrote a nice piece on teams who struggled early now making a late push. Most relevant to us is obviously the Grizzlies who have been out of the top 8 seeds in the Western Conference the entire season and could now possibly reach the 5 seed by the end of the week.

Had these winning ways been there since the start, they would be on pace to win 61 games. But after the Grizzlies followed their Conference Finals loss to the San Antonio Spurs with a coaching change that was seen as puzzling by many, the combination of Gasol’s Jan. 14 return from an MCL sprain that kept him out for seven weeks and the timely acquisition of players like Courtney Lee and James Johnson has worked wonders.

Despite losing defensive specialist Tony Allen to a wrist injury for most of January and February, the Grizzlies’ defense is back in form. Since Jan. 10, they are third in the NBA in allowing 98.7 points per 100 possessions and aren’t far behind the top-ranked Pacers (97.9).

“The chemistry is the best that I’ve ever seen it in all of my years here,” said Joerger, whose Grizzlies tenure began when he was hired as an assistant coach in 2007. “Guys really like each other. They like playing together. They like traveling together. They’re playing for each other, and I think that’s very positive.

NBA: Western Conference Standings

NBA: Western Conference Standings

Jason Love: Debunking The Josh Pastner Myth ➡

by •

He, supposedly, was born to be a basketball coach, and according to some Memphis fans he’s the next John Wooden. This all helps perpetuate the myth of Josh Pastner: Next Great Coach, but the fact is, he’s average at best.

In the five years under Pastner since that time, the Tigers have won two NCAA Tournament games. Archie Miller of Dayton has won two this year in his third year. Cuonzo Martin at Tennessee has won three this year in his third year at Tennessee.

Pastner is supposed to be a great recruiter, but most of his big-time recruits are born and raised in Memphis — kids who already want to go to the University of Memphis. Outside of the city of Memphis, Pastner’s recruiting acumen has been poor. His best get was Will Barton (No. 6 ranked recruit) four years ago while missing out on every other Top 10 recruit who lives outside of Memphis. Memphis is a hotbed of high school talent, and just about any coach at the University of Memphis is going to get Memphis born talent; that’s the way it’s always been.

Pastner has won 75 percent of his games in his five years as coach of the Memphis Tigers. But a closer look at those numbers will reveal he’s 5-19 against the AP Top 25. The numbers will reveal that 90 percent of his wins have come against teams far outside the RPI Top 50 and most have come against the RPI Top 100. Pastner simply overwhelmed Conference USA teams with Memphis born talent during his first four years.

So, as the Tigers head into another disappointing offseason, Tiger fans would be best served from cutting the man away from the myth. They have five years of disappointing results to look at to build the real story.

This guy seems to hate Josh Pastner and points out that even his “positive” qualities, are actually not as impressive as they seem. But he fails to mention the positives forgetting that he kept a decimated program rationally relative, has had zero ZERO off the court problems at a place where that has been historically unheard of, and is actually a guy that is easy to like.

Plus his suggestion is to resolve the problem by cutting the man away from the myth does he realize that the university couldn’t do that if they wanted too. The man makes 2.9 million dollars and has made the tournament 4 years in a row. That would be unheard of.

So yes, Josh Pastner has underperformed with highly regarded recruiting classes. Yes the majority of 75% winning record came in a terrible Conference USA. And yes it is exhausting to hear him continue to tell the media his accomplishments are better than they really are and failures are not as bad as they seem. But firing Pastner? Thats silly. Pastner does face some really pressure–but it isn’t job Pastner. He has a great contract and has accomplished too much for the university to even think of firing him.

But if Pastner would like his life to be a little easier in the off seasons, he might want to see if he can put a post-season run together in the near future.

Pete Thamel: Virginia wins clinically against Memphis ➡

by •

“If we play not to lose,” Pastner proclaimed, “we’re going to lose.”

Memphis came out with its typical bravado in the round of 32 against Virginia, but the Cavaliers soon put the game in their methodical grip. Ever clinical, never volatile, Virginia dissected the Tigers, shooting 55 percent from the field and holding Memphis to 40 percent in a 78-60 win.

Nobody’s (ok some people probably are) saying fire Josh Pastner or that the Universtiy could if they wanted too. But it was frustrating to watch Memphis get killed and not compete again.

Gary Parrish: Memphis closes strong, beats Louisville in confounding AAC ➡

by •

The Tigers beat the Louisville Cardinals in FedExForum Saturday, recovering from a bad loss at Houston on Thursday and continuing a streak if unpredictability among the top five teams in the American Athletic Conference. Gary Parrish wrote about the game at CBS Sports.

From the column

When the final horn sounded, Memphis had closed on an out-of-nowhere 15-1 run to record a 72-66 victory over their historical rival that seemed to — at least in the minds of the 18,375 inside FedExForum — erase the ridiculous loss they took in front of like 17 fans at Hofheinz Pavilion two nights earlier, and is this American Athletic Conference wild or is this American Athletic Conference wild? I detailed in a column a few weeks back the great (and unique) divide between the top half and the bottom half of the league. But what’s also interesting is that games between schools in the top half are mostly unpredictable.

SMU has swept UConn.

UConn has swept Memphis.

Memphis has swept Louisville.

Louisville could complete sweeps of SMU and UConn in the next week.

And Cincinnati has split with every top-half team its played twice this season.

So good luck predicting a winner in the American Tournament … although it should be noted that the three-day event will be played at FedExForum, where the Tigers will have a massive homecourt advantage similar to the one they had on this first day of March.

Twitter

Video

Zac Ellis: Memphis steals résumé-building win from Gonzaga; more Saturday hoops ➡

by •

ESPN’s college game day came to the FedExForum last week for the Memphis Gonzaga matchup. The atmosphere was great and the Tiger’s were able to mount a comeback in order to seal a much needed top 25 win after suffering a road loss to SMU in Dallas the prior Saturday. The other story line was the emergence of Nick King in the rotation out of necessity due to foul trouble by the Tigers. King sparked enough energy into the Tiger’s lineup to turn the momentum and was a major the reason the Tiger’s were able make the comeback and get the W.

Memphis got a little bit of help from everybody in the victory. The 6-foot-1 Jackson sparked some life into his teammates with a timely swat of 7-1 Przemek Karnowski midway through the second half. Michael Dixon Jr. came off the bench to score all 11 points in the second half, including the go-ahead layup at 1:12. In all, the Tigers managed to escape with a strong victory despite shooting 35 percent from the field.

Memphis Tigers: Joe Jackson

Memphis Tigers: Joe Jackson

The win over Gonzaga obviously had no bearing on Memphis’ spot in the AAC, but there’s never anything wrong with a résumé-building win. That holds especially true when your program rallies from a double-digit deficit to claim that win. This is the type of game that the selection committee will look favorably upon come March.

Royce Young: Thunder grind the Grizzlies, 86-77 ➡

by •

I know it’s the job of the fan blogger to troll the opposing fan, but why must everyone hate on Rick Trotter? The Thunder beat the Grizzlies last night (without Mike Conley). Royce Young wrote about it (Thunder grind the Grizzlies, 86-77) and trolled on the Grizzlies love of Rick Trotter:

Probably the most interesting part: Dave Joerger also asked the Thunder’s game ops people to “turn the music down just a little.” He was joking. I think. Especially when you consider Memphis has one of the most loud and obnoxious PA announcers and in-arena music in the league.

I can’t be sure, but I think the Thunder turned it up after that. At least it felt that way to me. It was obnoxiously loud. Like Memphis loud.

Also this about Joerger: During a quiet moment, screamed “Hey, he can’t do that sh–!!!!!” Earmuffs, lower bowl.

Zach Randolph is a closet flopper.

Nick Calathes, still hanging on to the idea of having hair.

James Johnson blocked KD jumpers twice. Don’t see that every day.

Game highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkHar2VFBk8

Tom Firme: Can Marc Gasol’s Return Push Memphis Grizzlies to the Playoffs? ➡

by •

A multidimensional attack with Gasol effectively supporting his teammates is the icing on the cake of what will be a compelling lower seed. While locking down on opponents defensively, Memphis will be more adept in staying with high-scoring teams.

The Grizz are creeping up on the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. By April, they’ll be not only on these teams’ minds, but also on those of NBA Finals contenders that will encounter a bruising first-round matchup led by a rejuvenated top player.

Gary Parrish: Why did Memphis coach Josh Pastner fire his brother-in-law midseason? ➡

by •

The Memphis Tigers coach Josh Paster fired trainer Frank Matrisciano–“the Life Changer–today. The reason: an apparent disagreement over whether the Tigers should work out their legs before the Louisville game this week after a poor shooting performance against Cincinnati on Saturday. The weirdest part though is that “Frank the Life Changer” is Paster’s brother-in-law.

Here’s the deal, I’m told: After the 24th-ranked Tigers missed 15 of the 17 3-pointers they attempted in Saturday’s loss to Cincinnati at FedExForum, Pastner was worried his players might have tired legs and suggested Matrisciano work only on the players’ upper-bodies heading into Thursday’s game at 12th-ranked Louisville. Matrisciano rejected that idea and didn’t appreciate Pastner telling him how to do his job. Pastner understood that but also didn’t care. He told Matrisciano again that the players were not to do any legwork this week, at which point Matrisciano responded by essentially telling Pastner that he’d either work the players out the way he sees fit or not at all.

Back and forth they went.

Ultimately, Pastner decided to go with not at all.

I think they’re both pretty crazy. Pastner had every right to tell Frank Matrisciano to not work out the players legs this week. And Matrisciano probably should have respected Josh’s position as head coach. But if Paster really thinks the reason they lost the Cincinatti game was because the Tigers had tired legs and shot poorly…I don’t know that I feel much better about the Louisville game on Thursday.

Ken Berger: Once an emerging power, Grizzlies trying to reinvent themselves ➡

by •

Ken Berger from CBS Sports wrote a really interesting column about the Grizzlies trying to reinvent their team while making decisions that might impact either the short term or long term viability of the roster as it currently exists.

With Gay’s departure, the Grizzlies’ Big Three has morphed into what the team refers to as its Core Four: Gasol, Randolph, Mike Conley and Tony Allen. The plan, according to league sources, is to find ways to maximize those four foundational pieces in the short term while building around Gasol and Conley in the long term.

League sources expect Randolph, 32, to opt out and try to score one more multi-year deal. But two people familiar with the situation say Memphis is not out of the mix to retain Randolph in such a scenario. The team is determined not to lose Randolph for nothing, so unless Randolph expresses a strong desire to leave — which he hasn’t — there’s no immediate pressure to trade him.

The roster has changed, the coach has changed and the landscape in the West has become a lot more competitive than it was when Memphis began its rise. Decisions that will be made over the next two months — trade Randolph or keep him, improve the team in the short term or go all-in for the future — will go a long way toward determining whether the Grizzlies will be able to reinvent themselves and keep pace or whether grit-and-grind is in a bind.

The column is worth taking a look at. The most interesting aspects revolve around Zach Randolph and his future with the team. Zach has a player option at the end of the year, but most seem to think he will not exercise the option in order to attempt to get a deal with more years. The front office definitely doesn’t want to lose Zach for no return, however, with the interest Zach has expressed in retiring a Grizzly the hope is he will be willing to take a more affordable deal in order to stay with the team and to allow the front office to assemble a combination around Randolph and Marc Gasol.

Jeff Borzello: Florida and Memphis both impress in nightcap of Jimmy V Classic ➡

by •

Jeff Borzello from CBSSports.com writes a quick follow-up to the Memphis vs. Florida game in the Jimmy V Classic last night.

The Tigers looked really good last night, and by no means was this a bad loss. The team fought hard to stay in the game after trailing by as many as ten at various points during the game. Florida and Memphis both looked like teams that can be a serious force come March.

Winning the Oklahoma State game has given the Tigers a luxury they haven’t had in a long time. They can lose to good top-25 teams and people will talk about how good they looked instead of how they still can’t beat a top-25 team. And thats a nice change.

On the other side, Memphis has really rebounded in impressive fashion since its embarrassing loss back in November at Oklahoma State. The Tigers’ perimeter group of Jackson, Crawford, Geron Johnson and Mike Dixon can match up with any backcourt in America, and the Tigers are beginning to find production (albeit inconsistent production) from its frontcourt guys. They attack the rim as well as anyone in the country, and few defensive backcourts can keep them out of the lane.

It’s taken both teams a little while to get going this season, and neither team is a finished product just yet. But Tuesday proved that both teams will be heard from in a few months.