The Grizzlies will never stop being a pain in the butt

It has not been a good week for the Memphis Grizzlies, who learned on Tuesday that star point guard Mike Conley will miss six to eight weeks with a fracture in his vertebrae. It was a major blow to the squad, who have overcome the early-season absences of Chandler Parsons and others to grab a solid spot in the West’s playoff picture. The loss of Conley appeared to be a big one, robbing the team of one of the league’s best two-way point guards, controllers of tempo, and downright dependable floor generals.

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Those negatives are still very real, but the Grizzlies proved Thursday night that no injuries will stop them from being a pain in the butt to whichever team they play. Heading into the night without Conley, Parsons, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter and James Ennis, the Grizzlies understandably trailed the Orlando Magic 84-71 with only 6:11 remaining in regulation. No one could have faulted their shorthanded group for failing to come back just one night after a road loss to the Toronto Raptors.

Returning to that old-fashioned grit-and-grind style allowed Memphis to make a thrilling comeback. The re-introduction of Tony Allen at that same 6:11 mark completely changed the game, with the Grizzlies going on a defense-initiated 13-1 run to draw within only one point in under three minutes. They stayed close until center Marc Gasol made a pair of free throws to go up 95-94 with only 12 seconds on the clock, which set up this final possession to determine the winner:

The Magic’s execution and ball movement on this play will not make many coaching highlight reels, but the Grizzlies’ suffocating defense certainly made their pursuit of a game-winner much more difficult. It all ended in a classic Memphis win — full of toughness and more dependent on grinding out possessions than throwing up highlights.

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Figuring out a way to survive while shorthanded is a reality the Grizzlies know all too well. The last few weeks of last season were comical — Memphis suffered enough injuries to require several roster exceptions and set a new record for the most players ever used by a team over the course of a season. The squad that faced the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs had no business being on national TV. Yet the Grizzlies didn’t fall out of the postseason even though they played several months without Gasol, weeks without Conley, and plenty of other games without other starters and rotation guys. Since-departed head coach Dave Joerger found a way to make it work.

His replacement looks set to do the same. David Fizdale came to Memphis with the intention of installing a more modern NBA offense without sacrificing the grit-and-grind mentality that has served the franchise so well in recent seasons. That challenge is now something of an afterthought without Conley, the player with the most responsibility in that new system. Fizdale will not ditch those new wrinkles entirely, but an injury-ravaged roster like this one is necessarily going to have to fight its way to wins.

The good news is that the likes of Gasol, Allen, and the not-injured Randolph have experience in making such situations workable. Sometimes all it takes is one big performance, which they got on Thursday with 25 points and five blocks from Gasol:

Surviving December will be a challenge. The 12-8 Grizzlies are two games ahead of the No. 9 spot in the West, but lagging teams like the New Orleans Pelicans have improved significantly in the past few weeks and could make big gains soon. There are plenty of tough stretches on the schedule — hosting the Golden State Warriors a few days before a back-to-back home-and-home with the Cleveland Cavaliers is borderline cruel — but the real trouble will be working through the normal grind of an NBA season. It’s tough enough when everyone is healthy.

What we can expect, though, is that the Grizzlies won’t lose games due to lack of effort. This core has maintained its extremely high standards of toughness through three head coaches and shows no signs of letting up. They’re a force to be reckoned with, no matter who’s active on any particular night.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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