Grizzlies feeling road-trip blues
Chilly temperatures met the Grizzlies for their final stop on a five-game road trip.
Perhaps the weather outside Target Center where the Griz will face the Minnesota Timberwolves tonight was fitting.
The Griz are about to conclude the roughest part of their schedule. It's been rather cold, too, given this matchup marks the 12th road contest in 19 games for the Griz since the regular season began.
Phoenix is the only other NBA team that will have played away from home a dozen times. New Jersey, off to a 0-17 start, has played 11 road games while Orlando and Dallas have each logged 10.
The Griz are trying to improve on a 2-9 record away from FedExForum -- something that has been, as one man put it, difficult.
"It's been very difficult,"
Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. "We probably could have had three or four more wins. But we are where we are. As the schedule breaks, we'll get more practice time. Every time we come out on the road we don't have time to practice. We play back-to-back and back-to-back, and so you don't get to keep working on things."
The season is barely six weeks old and the Griz are already on their second five-game, Western Conference road swing.
They haven't fared too well on either one.
The Griz are 1-3 on this trip. They fell behind by 32 points before losing Monday against Utah and blew a 20-point, second-half lead in a loss Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
That Clippers game is among the three or four road wins that have eluded the Grizzlies' grasp. Memphis had a chance to beat the Clippers again Nov. 7 at Staples Center, could have won Nov. 4 at Golden State and should have beaten Sacramento on Nov. 2.
With an average age of 25.3 years old, the Griz try hard not to make excuses. They haven't been as successful at avoiding critical, late-game mistakes.
"Nobody is going to give us anything. We have to be mentally stronger,"
center Marc Gasol said. "It's been a challenge. We're real young and a pretty new team with eight new guys from last year. Those are facts, but we cannot make excuses. We have to keep playing. We can definitely use (practice)."
What Hollins laments as much as bitterly disappointing losses is the inability to work out with the league's youngest team.
"You have slippage, especially with young guys,"
Hollins said. "We've just got to get back in the gym and get repetition with what we do both offensively and defensively."
For example, the Griz didn't practice Tuesday and instead traveled to Minneapolis after staying overnight in Salt Lake City.
Because they played Sunday and Monday, "it's important for us to get our rest,"
veteran forward Zach Randolph said.
Just as important moving forward is for the Griz to take advantage of this month. The Griz will face a number of playoff-caliber teams, but they'll also play the host for eight of 13 games in December.
Second-year guard O.J. Mayo insisted the Griz are poised to get hot.
"We've grown,"
Mayo said. "The other night (at Utah) it didn't show. But we feel like we're right there. We just have to stay together and just keep pushing. Sometimes our youth messes us up. But we're on the verge of becoming a good team."
