In the three games since Allen Iverson quit the Grizzlies, playing time has increased dramatically for Marcus Williams. The backup point guard hasn't done himself any favors in that time frame, scoring just 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting, and adding 14 assists. On Saturday, he was 0-for-6 in the Grizzlies' loss to the Bucks, yet he believes in himself. "I've been through probably the worst you can go through," Williams said. "I'm here for the team, not for myself."
That's nice. But Williams needs to understand what makes him effective and what doesn't.
"When Marcus tries to run the team and score second, he can be effective," coach Lionel Hollins said. "When he tries to score first, we look bad and he looks bad."
Williams said he is just trying to be resilient game-to-game.
"A.I. came back from his injury, so suddenly he was in the rotation and I wasn't," Williams said. "That's fine. Things happen. You never know what can happen."
BUCKS 103, GRIZZLIES 98: Memphis tried hard to extend its three-game winning streak, but it didn't have anyone to stop Milwaukee rookie point guard Brandon Jennings, who scored 24 of his 26 points in the second half. Milwaukee went to small lineups and Memphis never countered. All the good team play that the Grizzlies enjoyed during their three-game winning streak vanished.
"We didn't share the ball," Griz coach Lionel Hollins said. "We held the ball and we saw different mismatches. So everybody thought they were mismatched, and when they caught the ball, they tried to do something with it on their own."
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