Basketball Daily

A song that was made famous by Marc Cohn titled Walking In Memphis, sees the new guard balling for the Tennessee team.  The speedy Allen Iverson just a few weeks ago signed a one year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies.  AI will soon play for his fourth NBA team over the course of his career.  He started with the Philadelphia 76ers, then went out west to the Denver Nuggets, and last year he was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Chauncey Billups, and the Memphis Grizzlies is his latest endeavor.

It is rumored that Iverson does not want to relinquish his role as a starter and Memphis will fit that bill.  Quite surprisingly though, the Grizzlies are an up-and-coming team, and whether AI will push the franchise to the Playoffs, is extremely unknown even with them acquiring Allen and a L.A. Clipper Zach Randolph.  The spunky Iverson will do his best though, we all know that, and hopefully he can propel the team into a Playoff spot in the 2009-2010 season.

Two struggling teams faced off against each other recently, the Detroit Pistons and the Memphis Grizzlies.  Both teams came into the game with a +5 losing streak.  The game was fairly close throughout the afternoon, but it was the Detroit Pistons who would prevail with a final score of 87-79.

Leading the starters for the Pistons was Allen Iverson with 27 points on 11 for 18 shooting.  Richard Hamilton and Rodney Stuckey both contributed with 14 points each.  Antonio McDyess was the high man off the bench with 8 points.

Detroit is now in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and is no longer considered a major threat, as 3 other teams seem to have much more talent and cohesiveness.  It’s up to the teammates to come together and start playing at the top of their game to get back to that elite status they have had for so many years.

On Tuesday night the Memphis Grizzlies hosted the Phoenix Suns and played very well, but the young franchise couldn’t sustain the lead in the fourth quarter and loss with a final score of 101-89, putting only 11 points on the board the whole last quarter.

With Steve Nash being out again for problems with his back, “The Diesel”, Shaquille O’Neal put on a clinic scoring 24 points with 13 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.  Shaq surpassed Oscar Robertson in total career points scored and claims hold to the 8th spot for all time leading scorers.

Leandro Barbosa picked up the slack with Nash being out and led the Suns in points scored with 28.  Grant Hill contributed 15 points and Louis Amundson had 10 points off the bench.  The frustrated Amare Stoudemire, who has been in foul trouble the last few games, limiting his minutes, got ejected in the second quarter by quabbling with the refs.  The Suns now move to a record of 18 wins and 12 losses.