Marc-ism: On Marc Gasol leading the Grizzlies' season turnaround

Marc-ism

noun

The influence of Marc Gasol on an NBA team, often times barely evidenced by the box score but more appreciated in total team synchronization, particularly on the defensive end. The pure joy of watching a smooth-passing big man.

Marc Gasol

It takes more than a casual eye to appreciate the greatness of the younger Gasol. Once only known as Pau’s chubby younger brother, Marc has come into his own over the past couple of years as one of the finest centers in the league and a game-changer on the defensive end. But without 30 point games, spectacular triple-doubles, rim-rattling dunks or a big market team to put his skill-set in the national spotlight, he is still underrated by many.

A large section of the NBA world was outraged that he was chosen over LeBron James as last year’s Defensive Player of the Year, but Marc, who led Memphis to the league’s best defence while becoming the most crucial cog on the floor for his surprisingly successful squad, fully deserved that honour.

An MCL injury early in the season threatened to rob Gasol of his rise in the NBA ranks, and expectedly, grounded the Grizzlies too. Last year’s Western Conference finalists struggled without their center-piece for the next one and a half months, and by mid-January, were outside the playoff picture in the West with a lowly 18-30 record. The reigning DPOY’s absence was terribly missed, and post-season hopes seemed to have been wiped out. In addition, perimeter defensive pest Tony Allen went missing from action due to an injury as well.

Luckily for Memphis, their big man returned just in time. Gasol played his first game back from injury on January 14th, and ever since then, the Grizzlies have found their grit-and-grind identity again. In the two and a half months since Gasol’s return, his team has ranked second in the league in Defensive Efficiency (98.1), and is tied for the fourth-best record in the league during that stretch (26-11). Now improved dramatically to an overall 44-31 record, Memphis are battling against the Mavericks and the Suns for two of the last three spots in the West, a battle that seems likely to be resolved only on the last day of the season.

Take a look across the board at the numbers, and they won’t necessarily mesmerise you. As ever, Gasol’s traditional numbers elicit barely anything more than a shrug. He’s averaging 14.1 points, 6.9 rebounds (career-low), 3.6 assists and 1.3 blocks per game. On the surface, these numbers are hardly those of a DPOY candidate, or a player who received a solitary fifth-place MVP vote last season, or someone who can even be handed superfluous adjectives such as ‘game-changer’ or ‘dominant’.

But a closer look at his influence, as usual, proves that he is indeed deserving of his accolades and admiration. Last year, Gasol’s DPOY campaign saw him put up a +5.4 score differential (second among Centers); additionally, Memphis enjoyed a +7.5 score differential when Gasol was on the court compared with -3.9 when he was on the bench. The sample size is much smaller this season, but the only number that matters this time around is ‘wins’, and Gasol has been a major reason for his team’s turnaround.

With the post-season getting closer, every game becomes a do-or-die contest for Gasol and his Grizzlies, and with both the Suns and Mavericks sneaking up on them, they cannot afford to drop any more stray games over the next two weeks. But if the Grizzlies do survive to make the playoffs, they will be one of the most feared teams over a seven-game series, whatever their seeding.

The top three teams in the East – Spurs, Thunder, and Clippers – have all been upset by Memphis in recent years, before San Antonio’s 4-0 decimation of them last season. Apart from Dwight Howard and Tim Duncan in certain stretches, Gasol is likely to be the best Center in the conference.

There is much more than Gasol in this feisty squad, of course. The likes of Mike Conley and Zach Randolph will continue to be extremely valuable to the Grizzlies. Still, little is expected of them once they make the playoffs; if this team is going to cause a major upset, expect Gasol to be their driving force – whether the stats show it or not.

By then, we’ll all have memorized the definition of Marc-ism, and have made many more of our own.