NBA.com: Grizzlies Turn Up Defense to Top Kings

i watched part of this game, mainly the last 6 minutes of the game or so.

grizzlies played a superb defensive effort. there are in fact, the last time i checked, the leader in lowest fg% allowed. with a lotta great role players who can really contest your offense like eddie jones(miami really shouldn't have given up this guy; i considered him a phenomenal defensive player and decent spot-up 3 pt shooter), bobby jackson, mike miller, shane, etc. they're a good team.

i think kings did not really play good defense(those it didn't flat-out suck); there were a couple of open 3 pt shots down the stretch that the grizzlies took that just couldn't make; they prob were that tired from rejecting all those kings shots. on the other hand, almost every shot the kings took had like 2 guys on them and from the perimeter.

if you watched the game, you would've understood why i hate the kings announcers. giving the grizzlies defense no credit but rather "kings are not making their shots, bad offense, blah blah" and then sitting in silence without ANY commentary whenever kings got a shot blocked and the ball is turned over(game was a close one). there's more other things that they did, but i guess you would've had to watch(and listen) to understand.

btw(been meaning to say this since the trade went down, but never had time), artest is a good pick-up for the kings, but i consider that the kings will not become an elite team defense-wise just because of artest. remember when the kings had this guy named "doug christie?" supposedly was one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. that didn't make sacramento a great defensive team, did it? and if you consider that they would, then you've had to factor in more good role players on that team that left, like bobby jackson(one of my fave ex-king players). not to mention with a frontcourt of peja, cwebb and divac, you were just ASKING to be pick-n-rolled to death. indiana, for instance, is a tremendous defensive team, but that is because all 5 guys have talent on that end, want to play it, and are all getting at you for all 48 minutes. ditto w/san antonio and detroit, and this year, memphis.