Eric Hasseltine | Memphis Grizzlies Radio PxP Voice

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Subscribe to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. Eric Hasseltine, the play-by-play voice on the Grizzlies Radio Network, and he joins us now from L.A. Eric, we didn't know when we booked you as a guest on the show whether or not the Grizzlies would be sitting on a win and a tie series or be trailing 3-1. What are the emotions now after what was a rollercoaster trip to L.A.?

Frustration. I think that they've come out in both games here in Los Angeles. In fact, every team that's won the first quarter in the series so far in the four games has won the game. The Lakers jumped the Grizzlies in game one, and they came back in game two, and they kind of played it from ahead after a really, really good first quarter in Memphis in game two. And then, as we know, game three was, I mean, I don't think anybody would disagree with me in that locker room. That was probably the worst quarter of basketball the team played all season long. They were down 35-9 and just dug themselves a hole that they fought valiantly. I mean, they won the next three quarters, but this isn't the old CBA rules where you get a point for winning the quarter.

It doesn't matter. You were down and just didn't shoot the ball well. They were three for 25, and that's just not going to get it done. Now, I gave the Lakers a ton of credit on our broadcast in game three because I thought their defensive game plan, what they switched from game two to game three was really good. They packed the paint. They ran out at particular shooters, other shooters.

They were electing to say, hey, if this guy beats us, this guy beats us. But they were not letting the Grizzlies use their youth and athleticism to get to the rim, I thought, really well. And then the way they moved to basketball, and they came out in game three in their first three possessions. My partner, Mike Wallace, who used to write for ESPN and now has been with us for almost a decade, said the first three possessions, they went downhill and they went right into the lane to attack the Grizzlies' interior defense and either draw fouls or just put them on notice that we're going to play this game like a fight and we're going to be physical.

And it worked. They played well, and I thought the Grizzlies got a little hesitant, and that spilled over tonight a little bit. They came out 6-0 run, and I thought they made... I can't get upset about it because obviously it's a split-second decision, but to me in the playoffs, when you have a three-on-one, you got to take the layup. And in our league now, three-on-ones, a lot of guys will flare to the wing or flare to the corner and take a wide open three, but it's not a regular season game. This is a playoff game, and if you leave points on the board, that's not a good thing. And as good a shooter as Desmond Bain is, and he's phenomenal, he's one of the best in our league, I'm taking a 95% chance at that layup over a 45-50% chance at an open three.

Maybe a little more if he's open, but he didn't hit it. And that left points on the board, and they did a similar scenario came up. They did the same thing a possession later after the Lakers finally got on the board. It was 6-2 and the Grizzlies had a four-on-two and pulled up for a three.

And I'm like, no, you've got to take points. And so I thought that they gave the Lakers a little life. The Lakers came back, took the lead, the crowd got involved. And then the Grizzlies again looked a little unsure of what they wanted to do, getting caught in the air, attacking onto the interior where Vanderbilt and Davis were just kind of sagging in and packing the paint. And then kind of figured it out in the second quarter after falling behind 5-15, cut the lead to two. And you said, okay, well, now you feel like the ball movement's better.

The finding of areas to get open shots is better. Desmond Bain wasn't going all the way to the rim. He was pulling up from 15 or 10 feet, which I thought that the Grizzlies as a whole had missed out on in game three and kind of seemed to figure it out. He said, okay, you feel good about going into the third quarter.

And look, as much as it stings to lose a game like that, it's fun to be a part of. In that third quarter, it was just back and forth for the first six minutes. I mean, the Lakers score, they push it to four. The Grizzlies score, they cut it to two. I think five straight possessions for each team. The offense has just executed really, really well. And considering the shooting percentages in this series as a whole have been low, it was fun to watch. And the Grizzlies end up coming out with a lead.

They built the lead to 97-90 in the fourth. And you feel like, okay, now's your chance to go throw this haymaker potentially and try to put the Lakers into a double-digit hole and really make them push the pace, except you took away Anthony Davis and you tried to take away LeBron James and some guy named D'Angelo Russell, who's pretty good. He's not a bad player. He's been an all-star in the league. Goes on basically a personal 9-2 run, as you heard in the highlight. He had two straight threes and then the Grizzlies got a bucket.

And you're like, okay, well, find a way. And the Lakers knew he had the hot hand and they got it to D'Angelo Russell. And Austin Reeves played well, as you heard at the end, as well.

And so now you're in this back and forth. And the defensive play that Jaron Jackson Jr. made in the final seconds was terrific. A block, a rebound, an outlet pass.

Ja Morancy's two defenders coming. And instead of trying to go to the rim, which he had tried more than once unsuccessfully, in fact, had two charging calls that he was whistled for on breakaways. And one of them, he had Xavier Tillman right next to him, but he felt like LeBron might take away the passing lane.

And with that type of elevation and athleticism, you're just taught to finish at the rim. I'm not knocking Ja for it, but they missed two fast break opportunities on those, as well. So you count those four possessions where you probably should have scored. I mean, I think a 90 percent opportunity to score on each one of them. And you leave potentially eight, probably more than likely six, because you may miss one. But certainly four points on the board in any regulation time period.

And that can change the game. So he drops one off for Desmond Bain. And look, this kid, LeBron James, who and I call him a kid because I'm a decade older than him. He seems to be like he might have a future in this league.

In fact, he's only the all time leading scorer for a reason. He made a great move to the basket down the stretch. And I thought Jaron Jackson Jr. made a great defensive play at it. And you just watch LeBron and you watch just little things when they slow it down, you see the angle of his hand able to avoid the reigning defensive player of the year's block shot attempt where a lot of guys could. And that happens. And then the first play of overtime.

And I know I'm going deep into the analytical of this. It was remarkable. And just when it happened, I just shook my head and said, You've got to be kidding me because the Grizzlies get a steal.

They're on a break. They have a three on two, at least possibly four on two. And John Moran, as he breaks out, literally dribbled it off of Xavier Tillman's heel.

Yeah. Xavier Tillman's a half a step ahead of them. That's two the other way for the Grizzlies. Instead, the ball squirts off his heel goes right to Dennis Schroeder on the floor.

John Moran tries to dive to get it. Schroeder comes away with it from the floor, feeds to Anthony Davis, who finishes around Jaron beautifully. And you're just like, You've got to be kidding me. Sometimes these are just the things that happen that you go.

How does that how is that even possible? How could that even be fathomable after all the things we've seen tonight? And it just sparked the Lakers. And then, you know, every time they needed a shot, they got it. And the Grizzlies settled for a couple of corner threes and they got good looks, but they didn't connect.

And the simple fact in the end is you and I both know Amy, if you don't make shots, you're not going to, you know, obviously you're not going to win. But when you're not hitting from the outside, you're not loosening up the defense. And the Grizzlies have just not shot the three point shot very well in this series and again tonight on the road. And it's been a kind of a common trend all season for whatever reason for them. As you said, they're not done.

You got to win four. But this certainly puts a lot of pressure on them. They were in this situation last year with Golden State. They went out in game five and one lobsided.

I think they won by like forty five. And the Warriors, when they realized it wasn't their night, just kind of said, OK, we're done. We'll save it up for game six and try to make sure we end this on our home court.

But, you know, who knows what will happen? I think the Grizzlies in every game, but game three here in Los Angeles, when you count the two regular season games, we know the Shannon Sharp incident and then the second game was the game after what happened at Denver. They gave themselves chances to win and they certainly had a chance to win tonight. And it's it's one of those things that you try to explain to fans and you can't always put it in a quantitative manner. You know, playoff experience and teams have won championships and guys that have been in the league for a decade as opposed to teams that have a bunch of guys that are in their fourth or fifth year that are in their early 20s. They just find ways to make winning plays in certain situations.

And you're like, it doesn't make sense. You're more athletic. You're probably a deeper roster. And I give Rob Palenka a ton of credit. He revamped that roster and got guys in here that fit what Armand Ham wanted to do. And he should be commended for that because he's been barbecued multiple times for basically mortgaging the roster to try to win now. And in an uber competitive Western Conference, that's a hard thing to do. But the moves he made were very savvy and the guys he brought in and the guy that heard the Grizzlies early at night was Jared Vanderbilt, the guy they brought in. You know, they decided, hey, we'll let him beat you.

But you can't leave guys wide open either. So long story short and long answer, even longer now, I just think the Grizzlies have at times overthought the game and not trusted their system the way they should. And I think at times they've gotten a little frustrated and their body language has shown it. They were very fortunate on one play tonight where they turned it over.

You could see the frustration. They were down double digits and the Lakers got the ball and inbound it. And Jared Vanderbilt was looking for Troy Brown Jr. in the corner. Only Troy Brown Jr. didn't realize they had already inbound the ball and Vanderbilt lost it. If Troy Brown Jr. is alert and focusing, he is wide open in the corner and can either drive to the base, drive the baseline and dunk or take an uncontested three. But he just figured we were going to walk it up as a team and the Grizzlies kind of figured the same and the Lakers almost got him on that. So it's part of the maturation process, but there are no moral victories in this league.

And when you continue to make similar mistakes, you've got to start correcting those mistakes and moving forward. Eric Hasseltine is the longtime play-by-play voice of the Grizzlies radio network. Frustrating. I get it. I mean, I'm a longtime radio host, so I'm with you.

If you're old, so am I. You're so kind, Eric. We've been friends for a long time and we're always glad to have him even in a situation like this, an occasion like this first word that you said was frustrating. So then for the sake of argument, just so we can have the conversation, if the Grizzlies do not recover from this 3-1 deficit on a scale of 1 to 10, where would you put this in terms of its disappointment and its failure as a two seed to lose to a team that had to go through the play-in tournament? Well, I mean, there is that. These things do happen. Obviously, once upon a time, the Grizzlies were the eighth seed and beat San Antonio before we had the play-in tournament. It was a similar situation where you took advantage of the Spurs missing Monte Ginobili in Game 1.

You got the Game 1 victory in San Antonio and then kind of everything else held serve. I will tell you this, that back in January, and it happened to be the game after, it's ironic how everything seems to tie back to the Lakers, the game after that incident courtside with Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies and Dylan Brooks and then Ja Morant and Shannon Barking and Steven Adams getting involved, the next game for the Grizzlies was in Phoenix. They left here, it was a Friday night, they played Phoenix on a Sunday, they had a day off, they came out incredibly flat, they were going through this stretch on the road, and going into the Laker game, they had won 11 in a row. There were people coming up to all of us and going, yo, you guys could be in the NBA Finals, and you've known me long enough, Amy, where I'm like, until we get into April, let's not talk finals, let's not talk parades, let's not talk how good this team can be, and I think they kind of got caught up in that.

And so after, they've been very resilient all year, and after the loss in Los Angeles, a game which they had very much in their grasp, and they made a mistake. They had a lead late, they crossed the timeline at mid-court, and you as a basketball fan and someone who understands the game, who's called games, has been around the game and probably played the game a lot, like I have, at a very low level, but even where I was taught, you don't cross the timeline and pick up your dribble in the corner right across mid-court, because now you've got two extra defenders that aren't people. You've got the mid-court line, and you've got the sideline. They're defenders, though, because you can't step on the sideline, and you can't go on the backcourt, and Desmond Bain caught the ball, and we call it the coffin corner. He was in the coffin corner at mid-court, and Dennis Schroeder, just being veteran savvy, said, I know if I foul, we're going to have to either way, but I'm going to take a swipe at this ball and try to get it clean, and he did, and they get a layup. And now the game's changed, and now the complexion of the game has changed, and they left that game, went to Phoenix and came out flat, got down by 20-plus, start charging back in the third, and after the game had kind of flipped back to the Suns, and it was pretty clear they were going to win, but not by nearly as much as you thought. There's a loose ball, and Steven Adams, just being the player he is, dives after it, and at 6'11.5 and 265 pounds, all of his force, all of his weight appeared to just come down on top of his knee. He didn't crack his kneecap, but he obviously did some damage. He has not played since, and that has changed a lot of what this team has done. They were the number one rebounding team in the league with Adams in the lineup, the number one offensive rebounding team. His high pick-and-roll defense has been much better since he first arrived and into last season, and then into this year it was even better. Guys like Tyus Jones have felt the effect.

He's not able to get around this monster scream basically set by a walking condominium who looks like Aquaman and is also as strong a human being as I've seen. Losing him was massive. Then you go to the Denver game, and all the story about the Denver game is obviously what happened after the game, and it's unfortunate. We all know the scenario.

We don't need to get into that. You and I talked about it after it happened. The biggest factor in the game itself was that Brandon Clark ruptured his Achilles midway through the first half. I've known Brandon obviously here since he was a rookie.

He's one of the favorite guys that I've ever covered. We've developed a friendship, and seeing him in the elevator in the team hotel broke my heart because this guy plays with an athleticism and a bounce to him that makes him special. When an Achilles is ruptured, you don't know if you're going to get that back, and you can see that fear. The other factor was every coach to a man said people that are outside this organization do not realize how important Brandon Clark is to our ball club. I'm pretty sure a lot of them figured it out last year against Minnesota, but what they're saying is even knowing that, what he means to them, the ability to make defenders come out of the painted area and contest a mid-range jump shot and not just let you come in on a free run.

That's basically what teams have done. If you look at the way the Grizzlies have been defended since that game in March in Denver and since the game against Phoenix without Steven Adams, on offense you're crashing the glass. On defense, you know you don't have to box out Steven Adams, so you send two or three guys to the window.

One of them being athletic, you can get out and run really fast. If Brandon Clark's not there to come in as well, now you can just sag both of your bigs around the paint and as long as they don't get a defensive three-second call, which Anthony Davis did at one point tonight. But there was a play I looked and to Anthony Davis' credit, he knows how to make sure he doesn't get the call. I'm not saying the referees miss this, but he basically was just standing in the lane the whole time. But with the arm span and with Xavier Tillman really not being a guy that plays on the perimeter, he's able to stay in close enough contact where now he just sits at the rim. I think he's averaging four or five blocks a game in this series because he just sags back. If you want to drive in and try to get the ball up onto the window against that guy, best of luck. He has incredible timing defensively, some of the best I've ever seen.

Now you're allowing him to just free rein around the rim. To me, that's the biggest story. Even though, yes, it's frustrating if it does not go the Grizzlies' way and you feel like you left an opportunity on the table, injuries are the biggest factor. The other factor is they've got to grow up a little bit.

I love these guys to death. I've loved watching them come in as rookies and develop into a really good basketball team, especially when fully healthy. But I think sometimes they get caught and do things that young players tend to do.

They try to make a big play to pick up their teammates and they get out of the system or they get a little flustered or they get chippy with the officials at the wrong time. That's part of every team's growth process. It's funny to me to hear people talk about the Warriors and they don't recall the three or four years that Steph Curry was there before they really took a turn or the five or six years that they were all there together before they won a championship. Where you go, okay, go back and look at that San Antonio series when they lost in the semis to San Antonio, the Grizzlies lost in the semis to Oklahoma City. And all the talking league was, boy, wouldn't it be cool to see these two teams that have had a lot of struggles over the last 15 years meet up in the Western Conference Finals and see some new blood? Well, it didn't happen because Kevin Durant was with the Thunder and he kind of took over against the Grizzlies and Tim Duncan was still with the Spurs. But the Warriors learned those lessons and the Grizzlies are learning them still.

But it's not an overnight process. I mean, this league continuity breeds success and experience is what gets you through tight situations where you don't have a critical turnover or you don't miss an opportunity to put points on the board. But that's not going to happen with teams that understand that those things do make a difference down the stretch and they're learning those lessons.

Sometimes they're painful and they're frustrating for fans. But, you know, you got to realize where this team is and one of the youngest teams in the league and obviously rosters can fluctuate. They are one of the five youngest teams in the league.

The other four are all going to the lottery. This team's the two seed for the second straight year in the West and did it with a remarkable amount of talent on the sidelines injured. And I think it speaks volumes to the coaching job for Taylor Jenkins and that this team is going to be a fixture in this Western Conference power race for many years to come if they can keep the group together and if they can stay healthy. I don't want to put words in your mouth, Eric, but it sounds like what you're saying is it's not as dire as what it might look like a seven toppling a two when you consider the injuries, but also the fact that this could be yet another stepping stone for this team.

I wouldn't say dire. It's frustrating because you saw and look, I'll go to the 11 game win streak and I'll be the first one to tell your audience that they'll go look and just fans are as educated on situations now as they've ever been with all the information we have at our fingertips. They beat a lot of teams that weren't winning teams at that time. A lot of teams that are not in the playoffs right now.

A lot of teams that were sub 500. But to me, it's not just beating them. They were beating them handily. I mean, I think there was a five game stretch where the Grizzlies and it was the first time either ever or since like the 60s that the Grizzlies won five straight games by 15 or more. And in the process, you know, we're shooting over 50 percent in every game. I mean, they were just blasting teams and it was wake up, look at the first quarter scoreboard and you had a minimum of 30 points on on the board and your opponent usually was taking a minute to get rolling and they were just in one of those grooves. Good teams can hit and that loss in Los Angeles in January kind of derailed them a little bit. It was a tough road trip. You knew it would be.

They were better teams and they didn't respond. And, you know, Taylor Jenkins said it all season long. And I think it's it's becoming more and more prevalent. They've they're they've kind of figured out now they can't think of themselves as this chip on the shoulder underdog group of a cute little story in Memphis. They're the team everybody wants to be.

One, quite frankly, they like to talk. Last year was more of a talk towards each other. This year they've talked about themselves to their opponents quite a bit. And they are a trash talking team and they feed off of that. And Taylor Jenkins does allow them to do that. And maybe some of that gets reined in or maybe Taylor Jenkins says, hey, that's what my team needs to do for it.

But we've got to figure out a way to handle that and handle the vitriol. Like maybe not the best idea to poke the head of the biggest rattlesnake in the bunch, a guy that can average 30 and, you know, basically get hot and take over a game. Like once upon a time happened this year in Memphis with Damian Willard, who just got ridiculously on fire and fading away from 30 feet. And it all started when he was having a bad game and the Grizzlies were chirping at him.

And Damian Willard just got this look and said, OK, here we go. And that's what great ones do. And so that's part of it. And part of it is, you know, when you're a team like this, especially a young team and you play young teams that are not in the playoffs. That is a benchmark victory for them to see a young team being successful if they can come in and beat you. And I think they got caught a couple of times overlooking teams now on the road.

It's not easy to win. There's a reason most teams are at, you know, 500 this year on the road was a good record. There were only a handful of teams that were above it. But and it speaks to the parity of the league. But this team was better than what their road record was.

And so take it for whatever it is, take it with the injuries, take it for however it was looking after the injury. The road record seriously dropped for this grizzly team, especially the first injury to Steven Adams. But not one person out there that's a fan of this league will feel sorry for them.

And you can't sit here. Oh, poor us. We had injuries.

Who hasn't? Find me a team that's had their five guys that are their best five play 82 games. It doesn't happen anymore. So they do have an X man up philosophy, but I think they'll be incredibly disappointed because they know they did not always put their best foot forward at times in terms of of, you know, finishing out games after that injury to Steven Adams. I think going into there, they were like 33 and one in games they had led by double digits or more in the second half in the previous, you know, the previous season and into that this season. And I think they lost like six of those from mid January till the end of the year. I mean, six. And they still nearly gets to be long.

Yeah. I mean, those are those are those are games you can't let go when you're a high level team. And I think they learned that they can't just shift the car into cruise control and coast to a win. The teams, especially in today's NBA with guys all over the floor that can shoot the basketball leads aren't safe.

And so, yes, valuable lessons, but painful ones, too, because you don't get many opportunities. You never know what a season is going to give you in terms of injuries, in terms of things. And they've dealt with it. They've had Jaron Jackson get hurt in the bubble. And then he was out almost the entire next year. They've had Ja Morant out of the lineup for long stretches. They had Steven Adams out.

Now Brandon Clark is up. You never know who could go down in the way this this NBA is physical and and fast paced. And guys are playing so high above the rim that you might not get another shot to be a two seed. Look at the teams in the West. Sacramento's better.

Denver's really good. The Lakers are a little bit older. Who knows what they'll look like next year, but Golden State expects to still be somewhat there. You've got other young teams up and coming, like Oklahoma City. Dallas has got to figure out what they're doing there. But you start talking about these teams, the Clippers, if they keep it together, the Suns now with that rotation. You know, there's some there's some Achilles heels to every team there, but all of them are really talented and all of them are really good. And if you just sit back and go, yeah, well, we've been here the last three years.

We should be fine. You'll find yourself on the outside looking in playing your your team's golf tournament a little earlier than you wanted to. Eric Hasseltine, longtime voice of the Memphis Grizzlies, and you make some great points. It's disappointing, certainly, but potentially this forces them to mature a little more and also to recognize that you only got so many of these opportunities. And if you squander them, there's a chance you won't get another one. I think that's the part that older athletes come face to face with. Maybe younger athletes don't recognize it as much. But yeah, you don't always. Every year doesn't result in a two seed and an opportunity to, you know, to to experience the thrill of the playoffs. And so maybe this one stings a little more and it sets in.

They realize they can't waste the opportunities that are in front of them. Yeah, I think so. I mean, remember, isn't it Dan Marino that said, hey, I got to the Super Bowl here and I thought this is easy.

Yes. This will always be the case. And I threw for almost back and back in 1984, he threw for almost 5000 yards, which was ridiculous. And it was this revolutionary offense.

And oh, by the way, that was the last time he played the Super Bowl. Exactly. Like, OK, it can happen that way in in a hurry. And yeah, it's frustrating, like you said.

But, you know, hopefully it motivates you to to to get into a different level. Say, OK, we this is what we've done. We've had a nice three year playoff run. We know we can be better. How can we be better?

What's going to be the better thing for us and making mistakes? And the one thing that I think goes in their favor is their head coach comes from a coaching tree where it was, you know, he started in San Antonio with Greg Popovich, left for Atlanta with Mike Budenholzer, was on a staff in Atlanta that had Quinn Snyder and Darvin Ham, who's here in Los Angeles, and Taylor Jenkins and Will Hardy in Utah. I mean, like every assistant coach is now a head coach.

Right. And they all kind of come from the same thing where these possessions in big games are so important. And when you have young teams, you learn how thin the margin of error is. And that's what Greg Popovich was always willing to do. And that's I think where you where you're good with the Grizzlies is the staff loves working together.

The players love playing for them. And it's not a, hey, I'm going to go get mine and we just have enough talent to do this. And we're going to have problems and we're going to have issues. And then it happens to everybody.

And I'm not trying to single anybody out or point fingers at anybody because everybody gets some issues. Look, the Grizzlies obviously had some issues this year with things and you learn from those things. But hopefully you gain basketball savvy in that. OK, now we know, like, take, for example, tonight, LeBron James knows that you're in the penalty. He's going to go into your body. He's going to if you hit him, even if it's not very hard or just graze him and you get up near his head, he's going to flop his head back. And in real time, it's going to look like he got hit. And he's probably going to get a whistle and he's probably going to get two free throws. And fans go crazy about that. And I go, that's brilliant.

It's smart. I don't like it on the other side of it. But when, you know, and look at Dennis Schroeder tonight, Jaron Jackson set a screen, his hand hits Dennis Schroeder around the waistline and into the abdomen because the ball handler, Ja Morant, left a split second early. Jaron wasn't set. It was clearly a foul. But you just lost a guy in Game three for doing the same thing who had chirped a little bit.

And so what is Dennis Schroeder? He goes down. He acts like he's hurt. They go review it. They didn't eject Jaron Jackson Jr. And I was quite surprised. Honestly, I said at first I said I didn't think he hit him below the belt.

But then you look and you can say, hey, who knows? Hopefully they'll slow it down. I don't think it's below the belt. And I certainly don't think it was intentional. But the precedent's been set.

And a veteran knows that. So when that happens, hey, the worst case scenario, you call me a flopper. But what I was trying to do was get the reigning defensive player of the year to either pick up a flagrant or possibly even get ejected. The flagrant changed the complexion of the game at that time. Absolutely. It's the difference between being a mature basketball team and recognizing those opportunities and using them to your advantage. So the Grizzlies are going to have to get there.

It's a process they have to go through. So I agree with you there. Really good stuff. Great analysis. Not only did you talk for a couple hours on the air plus overtime, but now joining us as well. So Eric Hasseltine, longtime voice of the Memphis Grizzlies, will see what the rest of the series has in store for us.

But it's always good to talk to you. Thank you so much for a few minutes. You know, Mike, a few minutes, you know, my goal is, you know, how in high school gyms across the country, they have like leading scorers and rebounders up.

And what I want on your board in your studio. Longest interview talk. 33 minutes. All right. You got it. Well, 33 is my favorite number.

So I don't think anyone ever will beat that. 12 was fine and we passed 12 a long time ago. Oh, all right, Eric. We'll talk to you soon.

Travel safe. All right. See you. Thanks. See ya. Be rewarded for your generosity.