Detroit Pistons went from a team possibly poised to make a surprise run into the playoffs to a 10 game losing streak and hoping for the best lottery pick.
That 10 game losing streak came to an end last night, powered behind a career game from Reggie Jackson as the Pistons defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 105-95.
After the Grizzlies blew a 17 point lead and allowed the Pistons to shoot 61 percent, turned the ball over only four times and outscored Memphis 66-41 in the second half alone.
As you can imagine, the Grizzlies weren’t too happy about it and one of their outspoken big men, Zach Randolph, voiced his frustrations for all to see.
From Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
Zach Randolph stomped around the visitors’ locker room, wearing a scowl and delivering a twofold rant about the Grizzlies’ latest debacle.
“Ten in a row?” the veteran power forward said. “Ten in a row?”
Randolph went on to use another word to describe the Griz, who are supposed to be a championship contender but continue to find ways to lose to teams with bad records.
“We’ve got to get tough,” Randolph said before nearly pushing the locker room door off its hinges upon his exit. “It’s not just one thing. It’s a lot. We were soft, and we didn’t stick to what we were doing. It’s a disappointing loss, especially with what we’re talking about doing. We’ve got to do something to fix this.”
Coach Dave Joerger stood outside the locker room seven minutes after the final buzzer and before the media assembled for interviews. So Joerger went back into the locker room and later declined to comment to The Commercial Appeal as he walked to the team’s bus.
Griz center Marc Gasol wasn’t even visible in the locker room.
The Grizzlies still sit at second in the Western Conference standings but their lead is slimming down to only 1.5 games over the third place Portland Trail Blazers. They are 8-7 since the All-Star break, with four of those defeats against teams with records under .500 which doesn’t bode well for the immediate future going into the end of the season.
This seems to be a trend with Memphis in the last few years, they start hot and then they fade out as the season winds to a close and they are all of a sudden cold going into the playoffs. The Grizzlies need to get hot to go into the playoffs, or else, it might be another year where the Grizzlies don’t reach their goals of making it to the NBA finals. This current team seems to be the best one they’ve had in years and this summer, there is nothing that guarantees that Marc Gasol sticks around.
