May 21, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan (21) reacts against the Memphis Grizzlies during overtime in game two of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at AT

In spite of Memphis Grizzlies’ valiant comeback effort in the second half to force overtime, the hole they dug themselves early into game 2 was just too big to overcome, as the San Antonio Spurs won 93-89 to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Grizzlies were off to a better start in game 2, holding the Spurs to only 18 points in the first quarter, after allowing 31 in their first meeting. Their defense was without a doubt an improvement over whatever it was in game 1. On pick and roll coverage, they switched appropriately, and hedged in small doses (Memphis should never hedge hard in any scenario due to their bigs’ lack of athleticism, and inability to move laterally for more than a step). They reduced over-helping on penetration, rotated well for the most part, and thankfully, the Spurs didn’t hit a million threes.

Defensive adjustments aside, I am disappointed in Lionel Hollins for making absolutely zero changes to the starting lineup and offense until the second half. Don’t get me wrong, Tayshaun Prince and Tony Allen are great defenders, but for what they give you on that end of the floor, it is not worth keeping if it means decimating your offense. Especially, Tayshaun, who has completely disappeared in this series, making no impact on either end of the floor. Same could be said for Tony Allen, but with everything he did at the end of this game, I will give him a pass. Still, he should never do anything on offense that requires dribbling.

Playing these two together falls right into San Antonio’s game plan and worse, it gives away any space for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to work in. The Spurs are more than happy to help off the two most offensively plagued Memphis players to double down on the bigger threats. And it is not even just Prince and Allen, the Spurs don’t care who is in at the 2 and 3 spot, they are willing to sacrifice open looks, as long as they have Zach and Marc contained in the low post. Hollins has to make San Antonio pay, by playing his more offensively equipped players (Bayless and Pondexter), which he did later, contributing to the second half comeback.

In the second quarter, the Spurs — led by Tony Parker, who finished with 15 points (6-20), 5 rebounds and a career-high 18 assists — went on a tremendous run to end the first half with a 15-point lead over their opponents. The Grizzlies, without Mike Conley (18 points (6-14), and 4 assists) due to foul trouble, were out of sync. They reverted back to their bad defensive habits, and couldn’t even buy a single bucket in the quarter, shooting 24 percent from the field. They scored only 1 point (Jerryd Bayless made a free throw) in the last 4:44 of the second quarter, getting outscored 31 to 18. The Spurs did most of their damage in the open floor, scoring with ease in transition to take advantage of the slow-footed Memphis team.

But things would take a quick turn in the third quarter, as both teams took turns trading blows, hitting everything in sight. Despite of this, the game still never felt close, even when the Grizzlies cut the lead to 10 to end the third. That is, until the Spurs’ 4th quarter collapse.

With the success of the Conley, Bayless, Poindexter, Randolph, and Gasol lineup, the Grizzlies slowly trimmed the lead, while holding their own on defense. Bayless, who was supposedly the defensive burden of the group, stepped up in the most critical stretch, and scored 18 points on 18 shots off the bench to give the Grizzlies a boost in the shooting department. On the other end, the Spurs went stone cold, shooting 21 percent from the field for only 9 points in all 12 minutes of the quarter. Memphis had 21 points. I don’t know if San Antonio was rattled or tired, but when Boris Diaw entered the game for Tim Duncan, who left the game with 5 fouls, they just didn’t look like themselves. They made defensive errors and stopped doubling down on Z-BO for short periods and he took advantage, completing a huge and-1 play to cut the lead to 4 with 52 seconds to play. Soon after that, Manu Ginobili turns the ball over, pulls Tony Allen down in mid-air for a flagrant 1 foul, costing his team total of 4 points (Allen’s free throws, followed by Mike Conley’s game tying floater) and the game was headed to overtime.

There wasn’t much to say in overtime, both teams were gassed at this point, and the only well rested player left was Tim Duncan. He went off for 6 of the Spurs’ total 8 points in OT, grabbed 2 boards and got a potential game saving block on Gasol to give his team a 2-0 series lead before heading to Memphis for game 3 on Saturday.

A Few Observations:

• The Grizzlies have 2 distinct advantages: rebounding and defense. They out-rebounded the Spurs 60 to 46 in this game. The main difference was on the offensive glass, where they won 19 to 4, but Memphis only scored on 4 of those rebounds. That’s 8 points on 19 offensive rebounds. They have to make the best out of these opportunities if they want to move on to the next round. On defense, as long as they can be their “second-best in the league at defending threes in the regular season”-selves, they will be okay.
• It maybe too late, but Memphis should try a defensive scheme similar to Indiana, where they force every drive into their best defensive player. With the Spurs constantly exploiting Zach Randolph on the pick and roll, it might be wise to do that with Marc Gasol, since he is rarely targeted on those plays.
• Keyon Dooling should not see a minute in this series. At his age, he gives the Grizzlies nothing, and if I am Lionel Hollins, I am not sure if I would be okay with a Dooling and Bayless perimeter line of defense.
• Last thing, I would love Ed Davis to play Darrell Arthur’s minutes. Between the two, Ed is arguably the better offensive player (Darrell hasn’t been the same since his injury), and is definitely more physically gifted to defend against the smaller Spurs lineup. Ed’s length and speed would be a huge improvement over Darrell in any pick and roll situations.

May 19, 2013; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) and Memphis Grizzlies center Marc Gasol (33) react after a play during the third quarter in game one of the Western Conference finals of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at AT

Memphis came into this series with a ton of much deserved hype, they just dispatched the (albeit very hobbled) Western Conference favorites and their grit and grind approach, while not exactly aesthetically pleasing, holds a certain type of everyman appeal. Combined with what seemed to be a bevy of matchup advantages and the still fresh wounds of the 2011 upset against the Spurs, Memphis entered the series as something of a favorite.

And then game one happened and the Spurs not only blew them out, they did so in a fashion that promptly ended any wave of momentum that the Grizzlies had been riding going into the series. So what happened? What went so wrong?

The Zach Randolph Killer (Spacing)

ZBo had a horrific game, going 1-8 from the field, getting boxed out with ease, and was so abused in space by Tony Parker that he may have to demand financial compensation. It was a drastic change from 2011, where Randolph more or less served as the engine that powered that Grizzlies chainsaw of a team to an upset of the Spurs. San Antonio made life difficult for Randolph by spending almost the entirety of the first quarter sending a hard double team his way.

They were repeatedly successful at doing this because the player San Antonio abandoned, usually Tony Allen, to double Randolph failed to make them pay. While single game plus/minus is a tricky creature, the team-worst -22 that Tony Allen and ZBo were in the 19 minutes they played together is a very telling story.

Danny Green completely ignored Tony Allen for the majority of the first quarter and the double team on Zach provided the dual effect of ball denial and limiting his offensive rebounding. Hollins eventually wised up and limited the two players’ time on the court together (a decently obvious Grizzlies adjustment for game two is going to be putting in Pondexter over Allen in the starting lineup to mitigate an immediate spacing disaster like with what happened here) but the damage was already done.

When the Grizzlies had enough spacing on the court, San Antonio started fronting both Randolph and Gasol, and nobody on Memphis outside of Conley seemed to be able to effectively pass over it. It got to the point, however, that Randolph was just in his own head and the Spurs didn’t have to do much of anything but watch him implode.

In a telling sequence, Zach uncharacteristically sprinted out in transition, blatantly fouled Duncan to create space, blew the open layup, needlessly fouled again to try to get the offensive rebound (this time it was called), and yet still failed to get the ball.

The Tale of Tony Parker and the Porous Pick and Roll Defense 

Tony Parker feasted on Memphis’ porous pick and roll defense to the tune of 20 points and 9 assists on 9-14 shooting, and did it with relative ease. The Grizzlies grew so panicked by Parker’s dribble penetration that they switched up their pick and roll coverage three times throughout the course of the game, and all three failed in increasingly spectacular fashion.

1.  Switch and Drop Back

This was Memphis’ initial foray into guarding Parker, and probably the one that is most fundamentally sound in theory. Parker is the elite type of player that can beat you in any number of ways but it’s always wiser to force him to beat you with a jumper, and not a drive that could lead to a layup, foul, or open three.

As you can see Parker has little problem creating with space, whether it be drawing a foul, hitting a jumper, or using it as a passing lane. In the last clip he decides to pass on the open jumper Randolph is ceding him and blows past him for a layup, just because he can.

2.  Trapping

Changing your defensive scheme this early in the game is usually an unwise and overly panicked move, but Memphis made it all the worse by changing it to perhaps the worst scheme you can employ when facing the Spurs. Tony Parker laughs in the face of a trap he can split with ease and when the screener you’re abandoning happens to be Tim Duncan at the elbow or Matt Bonner behind the line, you are doing something wrong.

That last clip is an especially egregious example, as Bayless and Arthur both thought it more prudent to double team Gary Neal 30 feet from the basket than to stick with Matt Bonner behind the three point line.

3.  Not Switching (like at all)

I don’t know whether it was just a crazy overreaction to the failures of the trap or if it was just Memphis giving up after San Antonio brushed off their final run late in the third, but for whatever reason the Grizzlies just stopped switching. Memphis’ big stayed glued to the screener whether the ball handler’s defender was properly screened or not. What ended up happening was the San Antonio ball handler would just run free, wrecking havoc in the paint or pulling up wide open, while Gasol or Davis would stubbornly cling to the stationary screener.

Miscommunications

You can see a bit of this in the pick and roll clips, Memphis’ defense was just not on the same page. In transition they would lose their man and then switch onto the wrong guy, this is why Matt Bonner was so open on most of his three point attempts. The usually astute Gasol would call for a switch at the wrong time, the dutiful Grizzlies would follow his orders, and this would usually result in an open three or a layup for the Spurs.

This play serves as a nice microcosm for Memphis’ communication problems, as Arthur loses Bonner in transition and then fails to get back to him in time because Gasol tells him to switch prematurely on a screen.

Adjustments

Now that we know what went wrong, the question now becomes can it be fixed. Memphis has been battling their spacing issues going on three years now so that probably won’t be solved by Tuesday but there are some adjustments they can make.

As stated before, putting Pondexter into the starting lineup eliminates some of the most costly spacing issues and could help free up Zach Randolph. It was no coincidence that Memphis’ biggest run came when Pondexter was on the floor, draining threes and giving the bigs room to breathe.

Memphis has no where to go but up when it comes to beating fronts and Zach Randolph especially will likely not have another game this poor in the series. History tells us that Matt Bonner is unlikely to win his matchup with ZBo again.

Stopping Tony Parker is something that Memphis (and really not many teams) may just be unable to do but scrapping their ill-advised trapping scheme and shoring up some of their communication problems will probably help. In the end this is only game one and Memphis still has time to make the proper adjustments, but they better do them quickly because the Spurs are not known to give up a stranglehold on a series once they have one.