San Antonio Spurs/Memphis Grizzlies Game 6 Analysis
16 Wins A Ring Writers offer 3 different perspectives on Game 6 results: Spurs 103 — Grizzlies 96
Spurs Recap by Rich Condon
What Worked
The Spurs were able to close out the Memphis Grizzlies on the road in large part because of Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard. Parker came out of the gates hot, scoring 9 of the Spurs’ first 11 points. Parker would finish the night with 27 points on 11–14 from the floor, in addition to 4 assists.
Kawhi, on the other hand struggled to start, but came on strong in the fourth quarter when the Spurs needed him the most. Leonard only shot 8–19 from the floor, which was an inefficient night for the star. He would finish with 29 points and four assists, three of which came in huge moments during the final frame.
Patty Mills chipped in 10 points off the bench on 4–6 shooting. The Spurs dominated on the boards, out-rebounding the Grizzlies 46–28. They were particularly devastating on the offensive boards, grabbing 16 to Memphis’ 7.
Finally, the Spurs locked down Memphis stars Mike Conley and Marc Gasol defensively. Although they finished with 26 points and 18 points respectively, they combined to shoot 12–30. Furthermore, Zach Randolph was also rendered almost totally ineffective, scoring 13 points on 6–14 shooting. The Spurs were able to capitalize on turnovers, scoring 18 points off 12 Memphis turnovers.
Lessons Learned
Despite putting up a 17 point, 12 rebound double-double, it was not a great night for LaMarcus Aldridge. Aldridge had a few particularly baffling plays, highlighted by his horrendous foul on a Mike Conley 3-point attempt in the fourth quarter.
Pau Gasol struggled throughout the series, and that continued tonight. The future Hall of Famer missed every shot he took in going 0–6 in 20 minutes of the bench. The Spurs struggled for a few stretches during this game, trailing Memphis by as many as 10.
That being said, however, it’s hard to find much fault in the way the Spurs played. Memphis proved to be an extremely tough team in the first round, and this is without Tony Allen, one of their four best players. The Spurs have three days off before they face James Harden and the Houston Rockets on Monday night.
Grizzlies Recap by SharonShyBrown
What Worked:
If MVP awards were assigned to losing teams, Mike Conley would be the recipient. He had a sensational series and Game 6 was no exception. Conley finished with 26 points and five assists. At some point after the All-Star break and in the postseason — the Grizzlies became his team. He averaged 24.7 points and seven assists per game for the postseason.
After the game Conley told the media:
“No regrets. I did about just as much as I could. I left everything I had out there. I know my teammates did the same. Like I said, that’s why it’s just been such a pleasure to play with guys like that. To know that not only myself, but everyone else is really laying it on the line, it’s exhausting but it’s worth it.”
Conley also offered:
“At the end of the day, it’s not on my agenda to prove people wrong. Just to prove the ones who believe in me right more so than anything. That’s what I am out here to do.”
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich offered high praise for the Grizzlies point guard as well:
“Well Mike Conley has always been a heck of a player. He’s never gotten his due,” Pop said. “I’m not just saying that to be nice because we won and all of that sort of thing. I’ve said it probably five times during the playoffs but he’s been the most underrated point guard in the league for a while.”
Popovich continued:
“Everybody talks about point guards and they mention four or five guys. It’s always the same guys, but this kid has a really high basketball IQ. He shoots it, he drives it, he passes, he runs his team. He’s incredible. Fizz has opened his game up even more so, he’s more aggressive, more confident, and really, really difficult to guard.”
All five Memphis starters scored in double figures. Marc Gasol ended the game with 18 points, six assists and five rebounds. Zach Randolph recorded his 32nd career postseason double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Vince Carter chipped in 12 points while James Ennis added 11 (4 of 7 from the field and 3 of 4 from deep).
Lessons Learned:
The Grizzlies caught a terrible break with Tony Allen injuring his calf in the final regular season game. Memphis just weren’t the same defensively without him. At a minimum, Allen would have aligned opposite Kawhi Leonard and provided a high end defender to slow the star.
The series served as a reminder why Leonard is in the League MVP discussion. He averaged 31.2 points, 6.0 rebounds shooting 54.8 percent (57 of 104) from the field and 96.7 percent (59-of- 61) from the charity stripe. Suffice to say, Leonard was absolutely amazing all series long.
Another Spurs player who proved to be a problem for Memphis in losses particularly was Tony Parker. In the clinching game Parker went supernova recording a series high 27 points on 11 of 14 shooting.
Other key categories the Grizzlies suffered were bench scoring, rebounding and second chance points. In their elimination no reserve scored more 6-points, they lost the glass battle (46–28 with a 16–7 offensive deficit) and arguably most critical was losing the edge in second chance points 17–9. The latter providing the turning point for the Spurs late in the contest.
Neutral Recap by Cory Hutson
Why San Antonio Spurs Won:
Offensive boards tell the story of Thursday night’s game. San Antonio grabbed a massive 16 offensive boards against 37 misses, meaning they rebounded nearly half of every missed shot (43.2%, if we’re being precise). If not for those second chances, San Antonio is probably outside comeback range in the fourth quarter.
Tony Parker put together his best game of the series, a remarkable 27-point performance relying on a bevy of clever drives and floaters, in classic Tony Parker style. Every one of those points was needed with LaMarcus Aldridge (7–17) and Pau Gasol (0–6) struggling to make shots. Aside from those two, the Spurs managed to put together yet another dominant offensive performance despite relying on a lot of unassisted baskets (13 assists versus 37 made field goals).
Kahwi Leonard, of course, has plenty to do with that. As he’s been in just about every game this series, Leonard was the best player on the court. That, in many ways, defined this series: Mike Conley was incredible, but Leonard was just a little bit better, and that was enough for the Spurs to close it out.
Why Memphis Grizzlies Lost:
Their defensive rebounding, of course, was at its worst of any game (the previous low being a 69% defensive rebound rate in Game 3, versus 56.8% in Game 6). Really, that was the fatal flaw: every other aspect of their game was solid, including their shooting, 3-point accuracy, ability to draw free throws, and turnovers. They even forced Leonard into a sub-50% shooting night. Letting the Spurs get that many extra chances was too much to handle.
Perhaps they could have used some more shot-making from Zach Randolph, who went just 6–14 and appeared to struggle finding his spots, whether against Aldridge or David Lee. Then again, Conley drew two questionable 3-point shooting fouls in the fourth, so it’s hard to expect them to manufacture much more offense than they did.
Ultimately, they might have just hit their limit. Conley and Marc Gasol played 45 minutes apiece, and down the stretch they just couldn’t keep up with Leonard and Parker, who were able to rest until the 8-minute mark of the fourth. Credit to them for fighting harder than I thought they were capable. Long live Grit n’ Grind.
