Gay’s goal is obvious: Play in the playoffs for the first time and hope the Grizzlies can build off what they did without him last season.
“He’s taking good shots and he’s getting better and better with getting his teammates involved.” “He’s letting the game come to him,” Grizzlies center Marc Gasol said. Gay has averaged 20.3 points since Randolph went down, and Hollins says this is the "best all-around that he’s played.” The Grizzlies have stayed in the playoff hunt without Gay, winning seven straight games at one stretch this month. “When Zach went out, knew he had to be the leader and make these guys better,” Hollins said. Even if Randolph does return, it could be difficult to reincorporate him after such a long layoff. Though the Grizzlies announced Randolph is expected to be out eight weeks from the time of his injury, Hollins said he doesn’t expect his star forward back this season. When Randolph tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee on Jan. Gay was fully recovered from surgery by the time the lockout ended, but said he “felt like a rookie” trying to fit in early this season after averaging 13.3 points in the first four games. "That’s just people who don’t know Rudy’s game.” “After a while no one was guarding the perimeter, so how could you say we’d be better without Rudy?" Hollins said. But he didn't agree the Grizzlies were better without Gay – especially because they didn't have anyone to counter Thunder All-Star Kevin Durant. Hollins had thought Gay sometimes focused too much on his scoring and needed to sustain his level of play every night, rather than elevating for only the elite opponents. And from talking to some of my teammates, they said, 'We wouldn’t have got here if it wasn’t for some of the games that you won and some of things you’ve done.' ” I know what I can do and I know what I helped this team get to, up to this point. So, of course, they would think they would do better without me since I’ve been there the whole time. “It was to be expected because this was the furthest the team had gone in their existence in Memphis. Their success had people questioning Gay's value to the franchise.
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When the surgery was done I had no chance.”Īfter beating the Spurs, the Grizzlies lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a tough seven-game series in the second round. Coach and the trainers told me maybe I should think about just getting the surgery. “But when I tried to work myself back in, I realized how far away I was and how bad it was. “I considered trying to come back and not have the surgery,” Gay said. Led by Zach Randolph, the Grizzlies played well without Gay, making the playoffs for the first time since 2006. 15, 2010 and eventually had season-ending surgery. Last season began promisingly enough after the Grizzlies gave him a max contract, but he dislocated his left shoulder on Feb. Gay developed into an impressive scorer during his first four seasons with Memphis, but that wasn’t enough to get the franchise to the playoffs. "It would mean a lot for me to make the playoffs to show how good this team is – not just me – and how much of an impact I could have on it.” “People were saying they did it without me," Gay said.