With the Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs as the odds-on favorites to win it all with high-powered offense, the Memphis Grizzlies have gone in the other direction in an attempt to grind their way to an NBA championship.
Is that still a viable way to win a title?
Taking a look at Miami's championship team a season ago, the Heat did have the fourth-ranked defense, allowing just a shade over 100 points per possession, but they backed it up with an eighth-ranked offense. They were hardly pulling teeth to score.
It's been nine seasons since a team ranked outside of the top 10 in points per possession won a championship. That would be, of course, the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
The '04 Pistons were 18th in points per possession and 24th overall in points per game. They made up for those stats by giving up just 89.4 points per game. Of course, once they traded for Rasheed Wallace, they did have a bit more firepower, averaging an additional point more per game.
We've seen the Grizzlies go on an impressive run since trading Rudy Gay, the only guy who could have been considered a dominant scoring threat. This ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Jesse Dorsey
Can ‘Grit and Grind’ Basketball Still Win an NBA Championship?
March 16th, 2013 by Jesse Dorsey Leave a reply »
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