Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Great Grizzlies Season!

The Grizz just completed the best season in franchise history. Lots of thoughts and questions fill my head as the Grizz season comes to a close, but 1 stands out above the rest:

I thoroughly enjoyed the 2012-2013 Memphis Grizzlies.

I have said before that blogging about the Grizzlies is a form of therapy. It gives me the opportunity to vent frustrations to my 3 readers (my mother, my father, and sometimes my wife). It's been almost a year since I blogged about the Grizzlies, and that was after a very frustrating Game 7 loss to the Clippers last season.

Since that opening round loss, opportunities to vent about the Grizzlies have been few and far between.

Smiles were common among Grizz fans this year. Check out these fans, watching a game at Smitty's Bar in Sausalito, CA.

Sure, this season hasn't been without frustrating moments. For example, there was losing the season opener to the Clippers. Then there was losing home court advantage in the first round to the Clippers on April 13. Also, there was losing on a Chris Paul buzzer beater in Game 2 against the Clippers. Pretty much every loss to the Clippers stood out this season as a very frustrating moment.

Thankfully, the Grizzlies only lost to the Clippers 5 times this season.

And despite those frustrating losses, unlike in previous Grizz seasons, the great moments have far outnumbered the sad ones. Here were my highlights from 2012-2013:
  • The sale of the Grizzlies to Robert Pera and his re-commitment to Memphis
  • The Grizz record for November was 12-1, including national TV wins against the Knicks (NY's first loss) and the Heat
  • I personally attended 4 Grizzlies wins including
    • Two wins against the Warriors in Oakland (including Golden State's home opener!)
    • A win against the Lakers in the Fedex Forum the day after Thanksgiving
    • A win in Sacramento's awesome arena after eating Papa Johns in the parking lot
The Grizz swept the Warriors this season, and I was witness to two victories!
  • I won over $100 in Vegas when the Grizzlies covered against Denver in December and Portland in April
  • The Grizzlies hired John Hollinger, my favorite NBA writer, as their VP of Basketball Operations
  • The Grizzlies won four straight in the playoffs against both the Clippers (top 3 least favorite team) and Thunder
On April 3, 2013, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Portland Trailblazers 94 to 76, and the Venetian Sports Book has never been the same.
    This was a Grizzlies season filled with great moments that I will not soon forget. In the next few weeks, there will be time to think about the future, but for the moment, I will enjoy the 2012-2013 Grizzlies, who outlasted all but 3 other teams in competition for an NBA Championship.

    Heart, Grit, & Grind.