Southwest Division

Memphis Grizzlies Power Rankings - 2011-12

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 1739-257Simmons' latest Grantland missive served up the reminder that the Griz have risen to "The Team Absolutely No One Wants To Play In The West" status despite trading K-Love for O.J. Mayo on draft night in 2008 and then drafting Hasheem Thabeet. Something is amiss, though: We're still not seeing last spring's Z-Bo yet.
Week 1635-259So what's worse? The Celtics losing in Toronto on the same day we proclaim them title-worthy in the Weekend Dime ... or the Griz losing in New Orleans to cap a weekend in which they got the same treatment? Gotta go with Memphis after Marc Gasol hyperextended his left knee in that particular comedown.
Week 1532-235Only one team in the entire NBA knows how it feels to win road games in both OKC and Miami ... and both breakthroughs happened last week. You have to figure Z-Bo will be starting by the time the playoffs start, but that Grizz bench suddenly has a lot of firepower on it if Arenas keeps throwing in badly needed 3s.
Week 1428-2210The Griz are just 5-8 since getting Z-Bo back and, perhaps more amazingly, tied with the Bobcats on the short list of two teams this season without a single player having scored 30 points in a game. Yet you can be sure the Lakers would not be loving a Gasol-on-Gasol matchup in Round 1 if the playoffs started today.
Week 1326-218A 1-5 start with Zach Randolph back in the lineup is not what we expected. Ditto for the signing of Arenas. Ditto (again) for Sunday night's scenes from Staples Center, where Lionel Hollins moved Z-Bo onto the bench with Gil and nudged that record to 2-5 by bringing the Lakers back down to Earth. Crazy, crazy season.
Week 1225-188According to Elias, Z-Bo is just the second player in NBA history to score at least 25 points in his first game back from 10 or more weeks on the sideline in the same season: Jeff Malone did it with Philly in 1995. The Griz, though, lost to Toronto anyway and, worse yet, are just 10-16 against .500-or-better teams.
Week 1124-166Z-Bo hasn't quite made it back yet, as promised, but he should be back at some stage this month to transform the Grizz into the West's proverbial No One Wants To Play Those Guys squad. Memphis' Jan. 4 acquisition of Speights as Z-Bo's stand-in was not only the NBA's last trade but also a very underrated one.
Week 1022-158Got wind of a Twitter campaign that started Saturday night seeking support for Lionel Hollins to get some Coach of the Year consideration. Not the most outlandish campaign in the Twitterverse when you consider that the Grizz are suddenly 21-12 without Z-Bo ... and 11-0 when they score 100 points.
Week 919-1512As a longtime Z-Bo fan, I'm admittedly biased. But I tend to believe that the crafty lefty's return will give the Griz more of a boost than any of the trade-deadline deals we're about to see. Can't think of many teams out West that'll relish seeing Memphis in the playoffs if Z-Bo is anywhere near fully healed.
Week 818-1412Good things happen to teams wearing truly hideous uniforms. What other conclusion can we draw after the Grizz beat Denver on a Dante Cunningham tip-in wearing their usual gear, switched to the dreaded TAMS look for the next game against Golden State ... and then won that one on Tony Allen's late putback?
Week 714-1419The good news: Memphis has the only Gasol bound for All-Star Weekend. The bad news: All-Star reserve selections came just in time for Pau's not-so-little bro, because Marc Gasol has quietly failed to reach double digits in rebounds in six straight games. (Blame it on those brutal TAMS unis?)
Week 612-1218Trying to hang in there in the midst of a tough schedule stretch while waiting for Z-Bo to heal, Memphis just dropped two in a row even with Rudy Gay scoring in the 20s. That benchmark had been something of a safety net for the Griz, who went 7-0 in Gay's first seven 20-point games but have since dropped three of four.
Week 510-913Stuff we do want to talk about -- that rally in Oakland to take their win streak to seven ... or those three straight L's that followed ... or those hauntingly bad unis on TNT -- is all on hold until the Grizz issue a fresh, detailed update about whether we can expect to see Z-Bo again this season.
Week 49-610Make that six straight wins for the Z-Bo-less Grizz and double-digit rebounds in 11 of Marc Gasol's past 12 games. The Spaniard's run of 10 in a row before the streak was halted was two games longer than brother Pau's best-ever run of consecutive double-figure board games.
Week 35-617One source of encouragement while waiting for Z-Bo to heal and as they face the team that beat them by 40 in Chicago: Marc Gasol has responded to his fat new contract with eight straight double-digit rebound games -- the longest such streak of his career.
Week 23-520Hearing whispers of concern outta Memphis about the Grizz getting sucked into believing their press clippings. So the only sliver of consolation that comes with losing Z-Bo to a knee tear for 6 to 8 weeks is that losing a player of his stature has to humble them.
Week 11-319You can make the case that the Griz actually rank as the most disappointing team of Week 1 (and change) after losing by 40 in Chicago, but barbs like that will bounce right off 'em as long as they get word that Z-Bo's knee injury isn't serious.
Preseason46-368Rudy G finally starting alongside Tony A? A slimmed-down Z-Bo next to a re-upped M. Gasol? The Grizz were my sneaky pick to come out of the West. Then they lost Darrell Arthur -- their bench, basically -- to a season-ending Achilles injury. Hurt me.
Training Camp18-140Good things happen to teams wearing truly hideous uniforms. What other conclusion can we draw after the Grizz beat Denver on a Dante Cunningham tip-in wearing their usual gear, switched to the dreaded TAMS look for the next game against Golden State ... and then won that one on Tony Allen's late putback?

Memphis Grizzlies