--Before the Grizzlies left Los Angeles on Sunday for Monday's game at Utah, second-year center Hamed Haddadi met Clippers television announcers Ralph Lawler and Michael Smith before tip-off. The announcers apologized to Haddadi for off-the-cuff remarks they made about him during a recent broadcast. It was an offended viewer's e-mail to the Fox Sports Prime Ticket network that caused the discipline for Lawler and Smith. Lawler and Smith received a one-game suspension for mocking the Iranian-born center and his culture. They made the comments Nov. 18 during the final minutes of the Grizzlies' 106-91 win over the Clippers in FedExForum.
"I was really mad at first," Haddadi said about the incident. "But I tried to tell myself it was done in fun. The biggest part for me is that they came to say sorry and explain what happened."
Haddadi said he was upset mainly because he received a lot of phone calls from Iranian fans.
"It was really good to get a chance to shake his hand and look him in the eye," Lawler told the Associated Press. "We reached out to him, he reached back, and I feel real good about it."
--Until Monday when Mike Conley and Rudy Gay failed to start, the Grizzlies had been one of six teams to use the same starting lineup in every game this season.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "We have to be mentally tougher to close out games." -- Center Marc Gasol.
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