Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Going two consecutive days without a game must feel like an eternity for the players on this year’s Jazz team.
In this lockout shortened season, with back-to-back games and playing multiple games over the course of several nights is common, to have days away from game action is a real abnormality. Word is, Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin actually gave his players a day off.
But now, it’s back to work and back to business, as the Jazz (3-3) take on the only other team in the NBA with consecutive Zs in its moniker: the Memphis Grizzlies (3- 3). The game tonight at EnergySolutions Arena promises not to be a snoozer.
The Jazz, winners of two straight, are looking to extend its winning streak to three games and home streak to four against a Grizzlies team that made a surprising run in last year’s playoffs.
The Jazz are coming off an 85-73 win over a short-handed Milwaukee Bucks team, playing without starters Mike Dunleavy and Andrew Bogut. The Jazz were dominant defensively in that match-up, blocking a season-high 12 shots. The Jazz now lead the league with an average of 7.5 blocks per game.
Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said it was a point of emphasis to be better at swatting shots.
"It's one of the things we wanted to address from last year — that we had to get better at blocking some shots," Corbin told Deseret News reporter Jody Gennessy.
Al Jefferson and Derrick Favors lead the team with eight blocks each.
The Grizzlies enter tonight’s game on a two-game winning streak, coming off of victories against Jimmer and the Kings on Tuesday and against the Timberwolves on Wednesday. The wins came despite losing All-Star Zach Randolph for up to eight weeks with a MCL tear, in a blowout loss to Carlos Boozer and the Bulls.
"This is a great opportunity for a team to show their character, show what they're made of, show mental toughness," Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins told Memphis Commercial Appeal reporter Ronald Tillery, "because I don't think you can have success or growth without some kind of adversity, and being able to overcome it. I'm usually telling these guys that this is how life is. Everybody has a story. People that succeed always tell the story about what they overcame. And the people that fail always tell the story of what was in their way."
Last year, the Grizzlies lost star forward Rudy Gay for the season and made a remarkable playoff run, beating the Spurs as an eight seed and then losing in seven games to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the conference semi-finals.
For the defensive-minded Jazz, a key to victory may be exploiting the absence of Randolph, with the team's talented and deep group of bigs, and shutting down Gay, who has stepped up in the absence of Z-Bo (Randolph). Gay is averaging 21 ppg and shooting over 50 percent since the Randolph injury.
For the Grizzlies, it’s a matter of making due without their star.
"It'll take a few games for us to figure this out," Gay told the Commercial Appeal. "Obviously, there's not a lot of Z-Bos out there. But we have guys capable of stepping up. It's not just me, Mike (Conley) or Marc (Gasol). We've got a lot of good players on this team."
Tonight’s game begins at 7 p.m. and will be televised on Root Sports network.
