Heading to Memphis, Pacers must start playing with urgency
The road trip was a disaster for the Memphis Grizzlies, but at least their playoff position is relatively secure. The same cannot be said for the Indiana Pacers.
Seventh-place Indiana (37-37) plays at Memphis on Wednesday, holding a one-game lead on the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Pacers also are one behind the Milwaukee Bucks and Atlanta Hawks, who both play Wednesday.
The Pacers missed a chance to get consecutive wins for the first time since a seven-game winning streak Jan. 26-Feb. 6 when they were handed a 115-114 setback at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday. The game was decided on three free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining by Minnesota's Ricky Rubio after he was fouled by Jeff Teague.
Rubio's free throws occurred after Teague missed a layup with 17.7 seconds remaining with plenty of time on the shot clock.
It was the latest in a stretch of frustrating inconsistency for the Pacers. Since their seven-game winning streak, they are 8-15.
"At this point in the season, you don't have a game like this being up four with under a minute (left) and let your opponent beat you, especially a young team," Pacers forward Paul George said. "It's a frustrating loss."
George scored 37 points Tuesday but instead of talking about a productive night in a win, he discussed the frustration of losing a game when the Pacers scored two points in the final 3:19.
"There's no urgency, no sense of urgency, no winning pride," George said. "This locker room is just not (ticked) off enough."
The Grizzlies will look to snap a four-game losing streak -- all on the road over the past week -- against the Pacers.
The last few weeks can be best described as a roller coaster for the Grizzlies (40-34). They dropped five in a row from March 3-11, then won four straight before averaging 89 points and shooting 40.7 percent in the last four games.
Memphis' fortunes seem to be tied to Marc Gasol, who is day-to-day with a strained left foot. He missed the past two games, and the Grizzlies are 1-4 in the five contests he has sat out this season.
Gasol is averaging a career-best 19.9 points while expanding his game to become an effective 3-point shooter. This month Gasol is averaging 15.7 points in 11 games after averaging at least 20 points in the previous three months.
The center scored a combined 23 points on 11-of-28 shooting in losses to the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs. Then he went for tests that showed the strain and was kept out of Sunday's 12-point loss to the Golden State Warriors and Monday's 91-90 setback to the Sacramento Kings.
If there is a positive to the injury, the losses have not caused Memphis' grip on seventh place in the West to evaporate. The Grizzlies are 2 1/2 games behind the sixth-place Oklahoma City Thunder and a comfortable four games ahead of the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers.
Even with the comfort of a playoff spot and being able to proceed with caution on Gasol, the Grizzlies are hoping to get their offense going again when they play six of their final eight games at home.
"The whole trip was a real disaster mentality for us," Memphis coach David Fizdale said. "It's really frustrating for me right now as a coach because it's not anything effort-wise. The last three games, I thought we really competed our tail off."
Mike Conley scored 22 points Monday and is averaging 22.3 points during this streak. Zach Randolph added 17 but missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with a second remaining.
"We're frustrated, obviously," Conley said. "Each game (on the road trip) has been different. We've had good and bad games, even in the losses. Tonight we felt like we should have won. We really needed it."
Indiana took the first meeting 102-92 on Feb. 24 when it shot 51 percent, six players reached double figures and George was held to nine points. The Grizzlies are 5-1 in the past six meetings and 7-1 in the past eight encounters in Memphis.