NBA teams
Michael Wallace, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Conley's gamble pays off big for Grizzlies

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Mike Conley accepted a bit of defeat long before he set the tone for victory.

There were just some battles the Memphis Grizzlies' masked point guard understood he had no chance of winning as he ultimately decided to rush his return to playoff action Tuesday, just eight days removed from surgery to repair multiple facial fractures.

Two days earlier, Conley's head was still ringing from medication and his stamina was zapped after a brief workout before Sunday's series opener against the Golden State Warriors. Conley listened to his body, respected the wishes of many around him and sat out Memphis' 101-86 loss in Game 1.

The only thing that felt worse than his physical pain was the agony from seeing his team struggle. So heading into Game 2 on Tuesday night, Conley wasn't having any part of that again if he could help it.

"My wife, my mom and my dad, they wanted me to take the extra days off -- and I'm sure the training staff did, too," Conley said of those suggesting he should instead come back for Game 3 on Saturday in Memphis. "But I wanted to be out there. I had to tell my mom and dad, 'No. I'm playing regardless.'"

Conley's dangerous and daring gamble paid off in a gutsy performance that saw him score a game-high 22 points in 27 minutes to steal some of the spotlight from Stephen Curry's MVP ceremony. With Tuesday's 97-90 victory, Memphis also tied the best-of-seven series after two games, snapped Golden State's 21-game home win streak and snatched home-court advantage away from the No. 1 seed.

Conley's only expectation was to play well enough to make a few plays and limit some of the mistakes that hurt the Grizzlies in the second half on Sunday, when they shot just 38 percent and committed 10 of their 16 turnovers with an offense in desperate need of his direction.

But order was first restored by arguably the league's most underrated playmaker eight hours before he stepped onto Oracle Arena court, strapped on his protective mask and sank his first four shots to score nine of the Grizzlies' first 14 points. No, the grit-and-grind Grizzlies regained their guidance on the other side of the Bay Bridge, on the sixth floor of a swanky downtown San Francisco athletics club.

That's where the Grizzlies held their workouts the past two days. On Tuesday morning, it was where Conley stood near the free-throw line in the middle of a group discussion between the team's power structure of coach Dave Joerger, center Marc Gasol and power forward Zach Randolph. Conley did most of the talking within the circle as other players broke away for individual shooting drills.

At the time, Gasol and Randolph both downplayed the significance of the summit. And Joerger would only say Conley's status for Game 2 was upgraded from doubtful to questionable. He then joked that he instantly forgot what the group conversation was about when asked for details moments later by reporters.

But Conley was tired of playing coy. He simply wanted to play.

"We were just going over some game-plan stuff," Conley said after Tuesday's shootaround. "It was more of a housekeeping thing for our team, more than anything."

There was one thing clear from that moment: If the Grizzlies were going to get their house in order against the NBA's most daunting team, Conley had to be at the helm of the restoration efforts.

His presence alone boosted an offense that sorely missed its best shooter from 3-point range, where Conley knocked down three of his six attempts on the way to shooting 8-of-12 overall from the field. Defensively, Conley's quickness and judgment recalibrated a top-five-ranked defensive unit that completely swarmed and disrupted the Warriors' usually lethal offense.

With Conley hounding Curry and Tony Allen shutting down Klay Thompson, Golden State was held below 40 points in the first half for just the second time this season and shot 41.9 percent for the game. The Splash Brothers didn't stand much of a chance against a man bold enough to deny his parents.

"The worst thing in the world is having to watch your brothers do battle without you," Conley said of the frustrations he felt while sitting out the past three playoff games. "My No. 1 fear was my adrenaline would kick in too much and I'd run out there and try to do everything and wear myself out too fast. I had to find a balance. I knew, win or lose, it was going to be a plus for me to get out there."

Without Conley, the Grizzlies were in the midst of an identity crisis.

But with him, order was restored.

"I'm just happy that he's able to play," Gasol said. "I'm happy that Mike is not only able to push through it, but help his team win. It's easy to say. He gives us poise, he gives us toughness. He gave us things that nobody else could do. He did a good job of just letting the game come."

Allen had all sorts of new nicknames for Conley after the game. He called him "One-Eyed Bandit" and "One-Eyed Charlie" before he finally settled on a moniker that seemed to stick after the game.

"He's the 'Masked Assassin' over there," Allen said as he nodded across the way toward Conley's locker in the visiting dressing room. "Am I surprised at what he did? No, I'm not surprised. He doesn't get the credit he should for being one of the toughest players in the league. He could have his face caved in and he's going to go out there and try to fight through it."

All Conley wanted was to help give his team a fighting chance in this series.

So he fought on. And he kept fighting after slowly picking himself up off the court when he was hit directly on the mask midway through the game when Warriors forward Draymond Green tried to take the ball away as Conley lay on the floor signaling for a timeout.

"I got hit a few times, and those times I was expecting it to be sore and throb a little bit," Conley said. "But it only lasted for a few minutes, and then I kept playing."

Conley wasn't going to be denied -- neither before the game nor during it.

Memphis is now 4-0 this postseason when he plays. The Grizzlies return to Memphis for the next two games with a chance to take control of the series, largely because their catalyst is back in control.

"As professional athletes, this is what we look forward to," Conley said, "to play at the highest level against the best teams and the best players. And that's what we have an opportunity to do right now, playing against Golden State, the best team in the league, the MVP, All-Stars across the board. You want that competition, to take that challenge."

This was one occasion Conley wasn't taking no for an answer.

Not even from his parents.

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