Grind City Views: Memphis Grizzlies in national power rankings (Week 11)

Welcome to the Grind City View’s Weekly Power Rankings, Beale Street Bears’ roundup of the Memphis Grizzlies’ spot in national power rankings.

CBS Sports: No. 7

“Memphis’ schedule gets fairly brutal the next two weeks, but then again, they’re zombie cyborg cockroaches that will outlive Keith Richards, so who knows?”

About time, the Grizzlies are compared to “zombie cyborg cockroaches!” It only took 6 and a half years.

NBA.com: No. 8

“Over their last seven games, the Grizzlies have scored 114.2 points per 100 possessions, their best seven-game stretch of offense in almost seven years (since Jan. 2010). And they’ve done it with Mike Conley missing two of those seven games and Marc Gasol shooting 0-for-6 before leaving Saturday’s win in Sacramento early with a left ankle injury. They’ve turned the ball over less than 11 times per 100 possessions in that stretch and Troy Daniels has scored more than 25 points per 36 minutes off the bench, shooting 49 percent from 3-point range. The team’s 17 threes on Saturday were a franchise record.”

The Memphis Grizzlies’ offense has looked really good, and Troy Daniels is a hero.

ESPN: No. 7

“A 34-point rout of Oklahoma City on the night Westbrook got ejected, followed by a 14-point win in Sacramento, has nudged the Grizzlies into the rare air of positive territory in the Average Point Margin game. As long as Marc Gasol’s freshly sprained left ankle isn’t serious, Memphis will gladly let Chandler Parsons ease his way back into rhythm, especially since Mike Conley is quickly starting to resemble Mike Conley again. The Grizz set a franchise record with 17 3-pointers in the Sacramento win and appear to have found a real bargain in summer signee Troy Daniels (13.5 PPG and 44.2 percent shooting from deep in December).”

The Memphis Grizzlies have a positive average point margin and a lights-out shooter? Welcome to 2017!

Sports Illustrated: No. 8

“Sometimes I just wish everyone loved Tony Allen as much as I do. The Grindfather leads all shooting guards (20+ MPG) in Real Plus-Minus, according to ESPN’s metrics. I hope these trade rumors are lies.”

We hope the trade rumors are lies, too.

Hoops Habit: No. 8

“The Memphis Grizzlies posted a respectable 2-1 record this week with Mike Conley missing two games and Chandler Parsons still limited to modest minutes, which is about as good as you can get since two of those opponents were the Thunder and Celtics.
Zach Randolph is still doing his thing off the bench, Troy Daniels continues to be a pleasant surprise for the second unit and the Grizz aren’t even fully healthy yet. Keep an eye on this team for the next few weeks, especially since they play six of their next eight games on the road, including tough contests against Golden State, Utah, OKC and Houston.”

The Grizzlies play this past week was superb, due to their stellar play off the bench and their 3-point explosion. Hopefully, they can keep it up, as their schedule becomes more difficult.

Memphis Grizzlies

2-2

Last week: 2-2Last rank: 7 (Week 8)

The Memphis Grizzlies had a rocky start to their week but finished strong. After tough losses in Orlando and Boston, the Grizz bounced back for big wins against the Thunder and the Kings.
They showed their ability to win in multiple ways by blitzing OKC with their defense and raining 3s against the Kings. As their schedule gets harder, they must continue to find ways to win.