Every NBA team's best iteration ever

Every NBA team’s best iteration ever

PORTLAND, OR - 1987: Head Coach Pat Riley leads Magic Johnson #32, Byron Scott #4, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar #33 during a game played circa 1987 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1987 NBAE (Photo by Brian Drake/NBAE via Getty Images) /

15 of 30

HOUSTON, TX – DECEMBER 26: Zach Randolph #50 of the Memphis Grizzlies reacts to a play against the Houston Rockets on December 26, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2013 NBAE (Photo by Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Memphis Grizzlies: 2012-13

Throughout the early 2010s, as the NBA followed the lead of the Seven Second or Less Phoenix Suns by speeding up and launching tons of 3s, the Memphis Grizzlies counterpunched by slowing down, and beating teams with defense and a bunch of interior buckets. The Grizzlies, in 2013, had the slowest pace in the NBA, as well as the least 3-point shots made and attempted, but they paired those seeming deficiencies with the league’s second-best defense and a pair of post scorers in Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph who made their lack of shooting seem like a much smaller issue. They even traded their highest scorer, Rudy Gay, midway through the season for Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis. I mean, it was a smart move, but it still seemed strange. Accordingly, there remained a bit of incredulity that they were making this work. Their starting shooting guard was a guy who couldn’t shoot, or even make an uncontested lay up one hundred percent of the time, but gave opponents hell on the defensive end. Really, though, that kind of encapsulates it all, I think.

The Grizzlies won the most games in franchise history that year, finishing 56-26, while also advancing to the Conference Finals for the first, and thus far, only time in team history. Admittedly, they got very lucky facing an Oklahoma City Thunder team in the second round that was without Russell Westbrook due to injury, but they still dispatched them in five games before being swept by the Spurs in the Conference Finals. The Grizzlies kept using the same formula, the next few years, but with diminishing returns, ensuring that their 2013 season would remain the high point of the Grit-n-Grind era, and of the Grizzlies as a whole.

Home/NBA