Something very consequential happened between the first Kiwi Steve write-up and this second one: Jaren Jackson Jr returned to the basketball court. JJJ missed the first 14 games of the season as he recovered from offseason foot surgery…
We are now a couple of weeks into the new NBA season. The dust has settled. The trends are emerging. The cream is already rising to the top. The sample sizes aren’t quite so small.
The focus of this Memphis Grizzlies off-season can be summed up in one word: continuation. A young team, many of them drafted by the organisation, who had their first proper playoffs run last time out...
Regardless of what you think he should do next, or whether you agree with what he’s done up until now... you’ve gotta admit that Sean Marks does not have an easy job.
When you send a developmental squad to the regional champs, you sort of have to temper expectations. The Tall Blacks weren’t exactly at full strength at the last Asia Cup but even that squad looks like men against boys compared this one
Credit where credit is due because the Breakers have done a lot of nice things in the weeks since Mody Maor took over as head coach. Logical, respectable roster building things
The time has come for this beloved annual tradition to swing back around again. Another edition of the Quotable Steven Adams, an oral history of the season that was told through the words of Aotearoa’s lone active NBA baller
Even if things got away from the Grizzlies in the end, this was a resurgent series for Steven Adams. After being benched for match-up reasons in round one there were no doubt folks out there wondering if his style of player is even viable at all in the playoffs in this day and age. Well, he swatted that one out of the air in a hurry
Once released by the Breakers after they chose to prioritise RJ Hampton as a Next Star instead, now one of the most important players for a Melbourne United team that won the championship last season and had the best regular season record of any team this time around
You could be forgiven for not even realising that the Breakers season ended when it did. If you’ve already muted the meme factory official social accounts and long since tuned out of the latest procession of defeats then it would’ve been hard to keep up. Couldn’t blame you either
That was not how it was supposed to go down. The Brooklyn Nets eliminated in a 4-0 sweep by the Boston Celtics, the only team to get swept in the first round of these NBA Playoffs
The penny dropped about three minutes into game two. Steven Adams had been fighting in vain for an offensive rebound and as he turned to run back down the court his hand whipped Jarred Vanderbilt in the face.
We’ve all been tapping our feet impatiently for months now just waiting for a chance to see what this Grizzlies team can do in the playoffs. Now we’re finally about to find out.
There are but a couple pesky regular season games left for the Memphis Grizzlies to get through and nothing more to achieve. They’ve already done all that they can do.
Steven Adams may well be having a career year. It won’t necessarily look like that from the state of his stats considering he’s scoring at the lowest rate since his rookie season, but he’s doing almost literally everything else he could possibly be asked to do.
It’s a special thing to be able to watch Ja Morant be Ja Morant on a basketball court. He’s having a genuinely astounding season, surging into the upper echelon of NBA star talent with his dynamic scoring excellence
The All Star Break is also a convenient chance to put the ol’ feet up for a couple of days, a rarity within any typically frantic NBA schedule. Between travel and games, teams barely even have a chance for proper training sessions let alone rest days
Trade deadline was predictably bonkers as it came and went on Friday morning NZT. Sean Marks was front and centre as he often seems to be, but the other kiwi in the league spent the morning blissfully preparing for a game. The Memphis Grizzlies didn’t do anything
You’ll never catch Sean Marks sitting on his hands, that’s for sure. If there’s a favourable deal to be done then this fella is going to make it. With the Brooklyn Nets’ championship ambitions teetering after a horrid losing streak and…
It has been called the moment that Memphis truly fell in love with Steven Adams. Fourth quarter of the Grizzlies’ win over the Chicago Bulls and as Ja Morant tried to attack past Tony Bradley, the Bulls big fella deliberately fouled him…