The take from the Memphis newspaper

[MFFL]

Put those brooms to good use cleaning up this mess
Geoff Calkins
May 2, 2006

Remember the boom when they blew up Baptist Hospital?

This one should be louder.

People can line up to watch the blast. They should show it on live television.

It's time to blow up the Memphis Grizzlies, to realize that what has been built can't be salvaged.

The Grizzlies were swept out of the playoffs by the Dallas Mavericks Monday night, 102-76.

Some 15,104 showed up to watch.

That's right, 15,104.

The Grizzlies should take that as a message.

If Michael Heisley and Jerry West think they can fix this mess with a tweak here, a tweak there, and a healthy Damon Stoudamire, they will be greeted by more crowds like this one.

"Another Year, Another Sweep," said one sign.

Cheery, eh?

"We Wanna Believe," said another.

Note the key word: Wanna.

"No, I don't believe now," said Dave Wicker, 30, the sign's author. "After this, why should we?"

Good question, Dave.

But there's no good answer.

Believe in a team that's been swept out of the playoffs three straight times?

Believe in a team that's just good enough to get humiliated?

No NBA team has been swept three straight times before. It's ridiculous to even consider.

And don't even start with that claptrap about bad matchups. The Milwaukee Bucks had a bad matchup this year. They drew the Detroit Pistons. They won a game before the Grizzlies did.

Every playoff matchup for the Grizzlies is a bad matchup. Every year the Grizzlies make splendid players look mythical.

Two years ago, it was Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs.

Last year, it was Amare Stoudemire and the Phoenix Suns.

This year, it was Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks who, by the way, had never swept a playoff series until this one.

But then along came the Grizzlies, swaggering into the playoffs on a winning streak, and remember how that was going to make all the difference?

"We thought they were tailor-made for us," said Chucky Atkins.

Exactly.

Until the ball went up.

Um, alterations!

Memphis coach Mike Fratello had this to say about playoff basketball after the game: "The truth comes out."

The truth, then, is that the Grizzlies are hideously mediocre.

Every year, they send a team that can't rebound into the playoffs. Every year, this kills them.

And then they're surprised? Why, exactly?

"We were terrible all year rebounding the basketball," said Fratello.

Not to mention the year before that, and the year before that, and you'd think the personnel side might notice.

A TV guy asked Shane Battier if he could put his finger on the one thing that hurt the Grizzlies in this series.

"Our offensive execution," he said.

Pause.

"And our defensive execution."

That's two, but cut the guy some slack, won't you? Cutting it down that far was hard enough after Monday's miserable performance.

The Grizzlies didn't even scrap. On their final night of the season, the plucky little team wasn't even plucky.

"What hurts the most is losing the way we did," said Lorenzen Wright, as he dressed in the home locker room for what could be the final time.

Wright's contract is up after this season. He said he'd like to be back, but doesn't know if the Grizzlies want him.

"I wanted to be here when we got our first win," he said, "it would have been great for the city."

It would have been, too. It still will be, someday.

But not with this group, not with this team that set a record for playoff futility.

So the Memphis fans spilled out into the night, and the Mavericks fans waved their familiar brooms.

If West is smart, he'll pick one up today.

And commence some serious cleaning.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by mary

This game is about heart and being competitive," reserve guard Bobby Jackson said. "It doesn't matter what you did in the regular season, it's about what you do in the playoffs. ... It's embarrassing. I've never been swept in the playoffs."

Maybe you should run your mouth less and play harder. I feel for the rest of the grizzlies but your sorry butt, I'm elated.

On and off the court, the Griz wore that sentiment too well.

"I was shocked at how they played us and the confidence they had," Jackson said of the Mavericks. "They were arrogant and that's how you have to be. They had that mentality of 'I'm going in the arena and beat their (butts).' We didn't have that." <<---Sig material

That's because we were playing your sorry Butt Jackson.