HeatCheck – Grizzlies Roar, Lakers Flop

This week’s HeatCheck features a storied franchise with no answers and a playoff team trying to claw their way back into the race.

Note: All records and data are accurate through February 3, 2014.

Team	Season Record	Last Week’s Record
Memphis Grizzlies	26-21	3-1
The Memphis Grizzlies have been the hottest team not named the Thunder within the past month.  Currently, they sit at 26-21 after a 9 point loss to the Thunder, their worst loss since December 18th to New Orleans.  Since the loss to the Pelicans, the Grizz are a cool 16-6 and have regained contender status for the 8th seed out west.  Over the past week, the Grizzlies won four games while averaging 97.5 points per game and only allowing 87.5 per contest.  The Thunder game was completely different, with Memphis ending with only 77 points while still admirably holding OKC to only 86 points, the Thunder’s 3rd lowest output of the season and the lowest in a win for them this year.  This makes perfect sense seeing as how Memphis is 3rd in points per game against on the season, only allowing 95.0 PPG thus far and sitting behind the stingy defenses of Indiana and Chicago.Mike Conley, Jr. has been an integral piece for the Grizzlies but may be out for some time after injuring his ankle against Minnesota.  Zach Randolph has been huge as well, putting up 3 double-doubles in the past 4 wins, and Nick Calathes gave a huge amount of help by posting a career-high 22 in his start against Milwaukee for the injured Conley, Jr.  However, Marc Gasol has been struggling to score and rebound consistently as of late.  He will need to find his touch in order to continue to boost the Playoff odds for the Grizz.
Lottery Spin
Considering their recent surge, the Memphis Grizzlies are back in prime position to attack the playoff picture.  Despite subpar numbers from Gasol lately, I expect that he’ll figure out his funk and help lead this team on another trip to the playoffs.  The Lottery seems pretty far away for this team now, so they simply need to keep their foot on the gas and gain ground on Dallas, Golden State, and Phoenix for the 8th spot in the West.  I fully expect the Grizzlies to make the postseason this year and avoid the Lottery altogether.

Team	Season Record	Last Week’s Record
Los Angeles Lakers	16-31	0-2
More like Lost Angeles Lakers.  Or Los Angeles Fakers.  Ok, terrible puns aside, the Lake Show has definitely seen better days.  In what can only be described as nothing short of a collapse, the Lakers have made their way deep into Lottery discussions since late December.  On December 20, 2013, Pau Gasol and the Lakers took down Minnesota Timberwolves 104-91 at the Staples Center.  Gasol finished with one of his best stat lines of the year: 21 points, 13 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks on an impressive 10-15 shooting night.  Jodie Meeks and Xavier Henry played 42 minutes each this game.  The biggest stat, however, was that Kobe Bryant nor Steve Nash played a single minute.  This wasn’t news to anyone as both have been injured for most of the season.  That didn’t prevent Los Angeles from getting back to .500, sitting within reach of the Playoffs, and at 13-13 overall for the season.Fast forward about 6 weeks and the Lakers are 16-31, far out of the Playoff reach, and well on their way to potentially drafting in the top 5 this offseason.  You may ask yourself what could have happened to a team that was holding themselves together so well.  The answer: reality.  Without Nash and Kobe for most of the past month or more, the Lakers dropped 11 of 13 on the road and 7 of 8 at home.  Wins at home against Utah and on the road facing Toronto and Boston were the only saving graces during this span.  That’s not to say that there haven’t been bright spots, especially one by the name of Kendall Marshall (about whom we’ve written as Player of the Week a few weeks ago).  Our own Robert Judin discussed the possibility of Marshall being the future at point guard for the Lakers, so it’s easy to see that he’s catching the eyes of analysts everywhere.  Marshall aside, the Lakers haven’t had much to cheer about lately, dropping two this past week to the Pacers and Bobcats, neither of which is a terrible team.  However, both games were played at home and lost by an average of 9.0 points.  In fact, the Lakers have lost by an average of 7 points per game during their current 6 game skid, but not winning a game since January 19th will tear apart a team’s chemistry and confidence.The Lakers have to have Kobe back to have a chance at normalcy, but is it too high of a price to pay this year?  Considering the Lakers are in a prime drafting position right now and Kobe’s not a sure thing once he returns from injury, it may be best to not rush him back to the court very quickly.  Regardless, the Lakers are definitely Ice Cold for the week (and the year) as they fall down the NBA Western Conference standings night after night.
Lottery Spin
It’s very simple.  Draft, draft, draft.  Finding supreme talent in the NBA Draft isn’t always easy.  Luckily for the Lakers, this year is about as good as it gets in terms of talent.  The Lakers sit about 11 games out of the 8th seed currently and for all intents and purposes are out of the Playoff picture this year.  Expect the struggles to continue in Hollywood for the Lake Show.  I can easily see them finishing with a top 5 pick in this year’s draft.

By Jon Elliott
Follow @TheJontlet