See? Told you going bowling would help out the Washington Wizards as they headed into a nationally televised Thursday night matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies.
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Granted, we figured it would come in the form of increased camaraderie and team-wide positive vibes, but hey, I'm willing to bet Randy Wittman and company will take Dave Joerger's crew getting their Pop on, too:
Yep, that's right. As the San Antonio Spurs have done so many times before, the Grizzlies will hold their top guns out for a TNT broadcast, giving All-Star center Marc Gasol, star power forward Zach Randolph and top perimeter stopper Tony Allen the night off to rest, while giving point guard Mike Conley the night off to heal up his aching right ankle.
Conley, the unassuming leader of the Memphis offense and the tip of Joerger's spear on defense, has been dealing with multiple nagging injuries since the All-Star break, to the point where multiple smart Grizzlies watchers — like Kevin Lipe of the Memphis Flyer — thought it might behoove Joerger to find an opportunity to give the point guard a night off during Memphis' East Coast road trip. He's continued to trot Conley out there, though, which briefly looked like a disastrous decision during the third quarter of the Grizzlies' Wednesday meeting with the Boston Celtics:
At first, many feared that Conley had suffered a serious knee injury after planting awkwardly while dribbling against Celtics guard Avery Bradley, as the 27-year-old instantly hit the deck in evident pain and had to be carried off the court by teammates. Shortly thereafter, though, Conley trotted back out to the Memphis bench, with the Grizzlies public relations team announcing that he'd simply suffered a sprained right ankle and would try to return.
He did, coming back at the 9:05 mark of the fourth quarter and doing his level best to push the Grizzlies past the finish line, scoring eight of his team-high 20 points in the final frame after fighting with Memphis' medical personnel to get back into the fray, according to Ronald Tillery of the Memphis Commercial Appeal:
“We were back here arguing for about five minutes about whether I should go out or not,” Conley said in the visitor’s locker room after the game. “I said I might as well give it a try and see how it goes. If I can’t move then I can’t move and I’ll come out.” [...]
“That was tough, but we went back (in the locker room) and did some treatment, took some medicine, was able to dull the pain a little bit,” Conley said about his ability to keep playing.
Despite the wounded lead guard's efforts, though, Memphis came up just short, dropping a somewhat disappointing three-point decision to the Celtics that saw the starting lineup struggle once again, former Celtic Jeff Green take 13 shots to score 11 points — including a 2-for-6 mark in the final quarter, while Gasol went without a field-goal attempt in the fourth — and bumped-back-to-the-bench guard Allen (16 points, five rebounds, two steals, two assists, two blocks) continue to make his case for being restored to a more prominent role.
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After the loss, Memphis' seventh in its last 15 tries, the Grizzlies' stars apparently seemed a bit off, according to Tillery:
"What are we doing? I don’t know,” Griz forward Zach Randolph said afterward. “We’ve got to play and be smart. We’ve got to execute and be strong. This is (expletive).” [...]
“We’ve got to do a better job of imposing our will and making the right plays at the right time. It’s simple basketball,” Gasol said before cutting his interview short, citing frustration.
... which makes some sense, considering just how hard-travelin' a group of heroes they've been of late:
... and now, they'll get a night off to rest, recover and, perhaps, get back on track:
Maybe Conley, Gasol, Z-Bo and Allen they can head to the White House and bowl a few frames. It's already paying dividends for the Wizards, after all.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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