Marc Gasol disappointed by teammates' erratic defensive effortsÂ
What's the story?
Marc Gasol was disappointed with the efforts of his teammates as the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Houston Rockets 105-83 on Saturday night
In case you didn't know...
Its the fourth straight loss for Memphis Grizzlies and in all those losses they have given up over 105 points. For a team known for its defensive prowess over the recent years, that's a troubling sign.
The heart of the matter...
The 2013 Defensive Player of the Year called out some of his teammates, without telling names, and wants them to perform better especially on the defensive end of the floor as he told the reporters:
"Defense doesn't work if it's four out of five guys, or three. Most of the time it's two. Sometimes it's three, sometimes it's four, sometimes it's five guys, we get stops for maybe 10, 12 minutes, but it's not enough. It's not enough, no consistency, so it's going to be really hard to win consistently" as per Commercial Appeal.
"You might win games every now and then. You might stay at .500, but that's not enough. That's not what we built here for 10 years. That's not it. That's not what we stood for. To me, it's embarrassing and sad." he said.
The Grizzlies center also feels that selfishness is afflicting some of the players as he says "I don't think guys are being selfish intentionally, but they thinking too much ... on themselves than on the team," he said. "We gotta get stops as a team. We gotta get good shots as a team. We don't do that, it's a ripple effect that's hard to stop. Once you allow some things to happen, it's just hard, it's hard."
Gasol put up 15 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists including 2 blocks in the loss as the Grizzlies shot 44.9 percent from the field and 41.9 from beyond the arc.
What's next?
After four straight losses, the Memphis Grizzlies (7-8) would like to bounce back as they go up against the Portland TrailBlazers (9-7) on Monday night.
Author's take...
With the increase in the competition in the Western Conference, the Grizzlies really need to do a better job defensively and can't afford to give up over 105 points every game against such high powered offensive teams.