--Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said he was disappointed in his season opener when he went to his bench, which is full of rookies like Hasheem Thabeet, Sam Young and Demarre Carroll. Detroit's bench dominated with a 47-11 scoring advantage. "They all looked like deer in headlights," Hollins said. "I told them when you're in college, you sit in your dorm, you watch all these NBA games on TV and you think it's easy. The NBA is hard. They got guys in this league who kick your butt and they aren't stars. You don't even know who they are, but they kick your butt." --The Grizzlies had just 10 assists. Said point guard Mike Conley, "We weren't getting good looks and we weren't making the shots we got."
--The Grizzlies might hire Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a consultant to tutor the team's post players. Abdul-Jabbar, 62, was in Memphis on Sunday and Monday. Centers Marc Gasol, Hamed Haddadi and rookie Hasheem Thabeet met Abdul-Jabbar for dinner Sunday night.
--The Grizzlies debuted their alternate uniform, which is colored in something called Beale Street Blue. Made with a neon shimmer material, the light blue jersey and shorts are offset with the Grizzlies original road color (a dark blue) along the sides. There is a yellow stripe in the middle of the dark blue print.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "When they started scoring, our heads dropped a bit. If you want to grow as a team, you have to learn to deal with adversity within a game, not just within a season." -- Coach Lionel Hollins, on how his team reacted to Detroit's first run of the game.
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