Zach Randolph apologizes to Grizzlies for Game 1 wreck

Sam Amick | USA TODAY Sports

SAN ANTONIO — The Memphis Grizzlies' goal for Game 2 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night? No more postgame apologies for Zach Randolph.

Admirable though it may have been for their leading scorer to fall on the sword after his two-point, seven-rebound outing in a 105-83 loss in Game 1 to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday at the AT&T Center, the "Grit and Grind" Grizzlies aren't going to propel into the NBA Finals with this sort of look.

Randolph has a major problem here, what with this Spurs' storm of big men swirling his way from beginning to end and the ball floating astray like one of those weather balls from the science-fiction thriller Twister whenever it was thrown his way.

This is a true story about Randolph, though, one that starred Tiago Splitter, Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner and even Boris Diaw as the resident bullies, and it has the Grizzlies forward gritting and grinding his teeth after an ominous sign in the opener.

"That was the best defense I've seen on the big fella in a long time; they did a great job," said the Grizzlies' Mike Conley, who was outplayed in his point guard battle with the Spurs' Tony Parker. "He tried to apologize (in the locker room), and we wouldn't accept that. We said, 'It's not you; it's all of us.' He's just saying that he's going to do better, but we've all got to do better defensively, and offensively we've got to move the ball in order to get other guys open like Zach and play our game."

Parker, who had eight of his 20 points in the first quarter in which San Antonio led by 17 points, said, "Yeah, we tried to make it hard on him (with a) double-team. Obviously, he's their best scorer. He's a beast inside. (But) we know he's not going to play like that every game."

Randolph, who entered having averaged 19.7 points and 9.3 rebounds in the playoffs, was quick to take blame afterward.

"It's just one of them nights, first game of the series for me," he said. "It was just the rhythm of the game. ... But I've got to be better. Like I told my teammates, I've got to be better for them and we've got to be better as a group."

Randolph, who had scored in single digits just once in the playoffs and nine times in the regular season, became incrementally more important to Memphis' winning formula after the Rudy Gay trade in late January. His ability to manhandle most big men with his old-school, below-the-rim game is a rare trait, one that had been vital to the Grizzlies' success as they downed the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder in the first two rounds and reached the conference finals for the first time in franchise history. He forms a powerful pairing with center Marc Gasol, who offered an underwhelming 15-point, seven-rebound performance while battling all the same bigs.

But the line between reliance and over-dependence is a thin one for the Grizzlies, who only wish they had the sort of depth that the Spurs put on display as they had five players score in double figures and shot nearly 50% (14-for-29) from the three-point line. It's a serious shifting of the gears in that regard, as the isolation-heavy Thunder were playing without the injured Russell Westbrook and simplified the solutions for the Grizzlies' elite defensive unit.

After surviving a second-round series with the Golden State Warriors in which they were forced to chase a cavalcade of runners and sharpshooters, the Spurs now have an opposite — and welcome — challenge: hone in on Memphis' limited offensive options with the hopes of limiting them en route to a Western Conference championship.

"Zach and Marc are a heck of a combination, probably the best high-low combination in the league," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought that we did the best job we could. You can't be perfect at it. They're just too good. But I thought the effort was there for 48 minutes."