Sports

We’ve hit the NBA’s tanking rock bottom

The Grizzlies make the Knicks look like world-beaters.

Memphis has one win in its past 22 games as the team has climbed to the top (bottom?) of the tanking standings, currently tied with the Suns at 19-53. And the Grizzlies got there in grand fashion on Thursday night, getting walloped 140-79 by a Hornets team that is 32-41 and has little to play for itself.

“They were out there just laughing,” Memphis guard Tyreke Evans said of the Hornets. “It was embarrassing. The whole thing. We’ve got to just wash this one away and just come back next game and be ready to play.”

The Grizzlies, who have made the playoffs seven years in a row, have been without their best player, Mike Conley, since November with a heel injury, and Marc Gasol has been sitting intermittently of late due to “food poisoning” and the need for “rest.”





So, how are the NBA’s efforts to curtail tanking going?

“With younger players, you don’t just throw guys in there just to watch them. It’s not fair for them, and it’s not fair for other guys on the floor,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. “The team has to be organized.”

Kemba Walker scored 46 points to the delight of the Charlotte crowd, who witnessed one of the biggest blowouts in NBA history.

Only Cleveland’s 68-point win over Miami in 1991, Indiana’s 65-point victory over Portland in 1998, the Los Angeles Lakers’ 63-point rout of Golden State in 1972, Golden State’s 62-point win over Sacramento in 1991 and the old Syracuse Nationals’ 62-point win over the New York Knicks in 1960 were larger in league history.





“One thing when you’ve got a bunch of young guys is they don’t understand what it takes to survive in this league,” Grizzlies interim coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “If you want to make it there’s a matter of bounce-back, a matter of pride, a matter of mental toughness that you have to show on every given night and every opportunity you get. What happened tonight… there’s no defending the way we played.

“You believe because there’s opportunities you can get out there, do whatever you want and it’s my turn to play. Everything in this league is hard earned. If you’re not willing to make that sacrifice then you shouldn’t be in this league. If you can’t prove to people that that’s what you’re about then you won’t be in this league.”

With AP





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