Mike Conley got 31 veteran points to help justify his $27 million. Second highest paid NBA player. He’s good, and knows how to negotiate. He and Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph negotiated this win against the Nuggets in the fourth quarter.
When you have three All-Star type players who have played together 7 years, Randolph, Conley and Gasol, you know they can play the 4th quarter together.
Statistics are only as good as how you interpret them. It is more important to know how to play down the stretch. Playing defense and mature offense down the stretch is the name of the game in this league. The talent is too close and any team can go off on another during the game for those runs.
It’s the end game man. Tired? Rested? Focused? Matched up right? Experienced? Got it in you?
But Memphis is the coffee-ground house team, plugging and plugging. This is the same Memphis that beat Golden State twice (Denver only beat Golden State once (:-]. Denver was leading until a 16 to 5 run in the third.
It was a run and gun team not able to run, and a plug and play team plugging and playing.