The Grizzlies Learn What Happens When You Poke the Bear: Story of the Series
The Memphis Grizzlies have been eliminated from the 2023 NBA playoffs
“I’m fine in the West.” It’s barely been a few months since this sentence was uttered, and yet I feel confident in saying it has already gone down as one of the worst ageing statements in NBA history.
The infamous comment made by Ja Morant is one of many made by the Memphis Grizzlies that have not aged well and are currently being brought back up to mock the second seeded team in just about every basketball circle. And honestly, it is well deserved. Because it’s one thing to talk trash and have to eat your words. That’s a part of the game, and in my eyes there’s nothing wrong with eating some humble pie. What is wrong however, is claiming you’re a vegetarian after ordering beef for MONTHS and trying to weasel out of paying the chef once he’s brought you the meal.
The Los Angeles Lakers mauled the Memphis Grizzlies in six games. As poetic an end as any. I never thought I’d see the day where the Lakers were the ‘good guys,’ but here we are. Credit to the Memphis Grizzlies for being so damn unlikable. For a team named after literal bears, you would think these cubs would know not to poke them. Yet they did. Over and over. With one man in particular leading the way.
Dillon Brooks.
I wanted to like Brooks. I really did. Not least because he’s from my neck of the woods. But this man never missed an opportunity to embarrass both Memphis, and Canada. Mr “We’re young and they’re getting old,” ‘they’ being the freaking Golden State Warriors. Mr “Keep building this dynasty.” What dynasty? Because last time I checked, the Memphis Grizzlies haven’t won multiple championships. The Memphis Grizzlies haven’t been to the NBA Finals in consecutive years. The Memphis Grizzlies haven’t even been to the Conference finals since 2013. WHICH WAS A DAMN DECADE AGO. So for Dillon Brooks I would like to repeat my earlier question: what dynasty? I would also like to follow that question with another question: how does that pie taste?
Dillon Brooks of course won’t answer either of these questions. I know this because the man has seemingly become a mute. Ain’t that ironic? For a man who ran his mouth so recklessly all year to suddenly be watching his tongue so carefully that a single word can’t escape his lips, I can’t help but laugh. I can’t remember ever enjoying watching someone get force-fed humble pie before in my life. Not as an NBA fan. Not as a pro-wrestling fan. Hell, not even as a person who just enjoys a good story in any form! Watching this series was damn near therapeutic. Because it gave me hope that in the end, sometimes the bad guy gets their just desserts. Hopefully the Grizzlies’ feet were washed before they were stuck in their mouthes.
LeBron and the Lakers were the NBA’s Batman, in that they weren’t the heroes we deserved, but they were the heroes the basketball world needed. Which is nicely ironic because despite all his great work off the court, LeBron has been one of the league’s premier villains. The tyranny of ‘King James’ over the Eastern Conference is a reign of terror I remember painfully well as a Raptors fan. But that’s a story for another day. They say you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. In the case of LeBron and the Lakers, it seems the opposite happened. You either die a villain, or live long enough to see yourself become the heroes. At least for one series. So to the Lakers, I say thank you. And to the Memphis Grizzlies, as well as everyone reading this, remember the lesson that was taught this series: don’t dish it out if you can’t take it.
