“All heart. Grit. Grind.”
Rarely does a professional sports team take on a city’s identity the way the Grizzlies did with Memphis during the ‘Grit and Grind’ era.
A city defined by its toughness, tenacity, and blue-collar work ethic saw itself in its basketball team.
Before the glitz and glamor of Ja Morant‘s stardom, there was Zach Randolph, Tony Allen, Marc Gasol, and Mike Conley leading the charge in the 901.
The lights on Beale Street shined a little different back then.
It was more of a soft, radiating hum.
A light whose presence you always felt, and one who knew was always going to be there.
It was never the prettiest thing, but it got the job done.
Those who stepped foot inside the Grindhouse knew they were in for a long night.
Born out of blood, sweat and tears in 2010 lasting all the way through 2017, the Grit and Grind Grizzlies played basketball in a way that would make the 90s look soft.
In an era of fast-paced, three-point shooting barrages, the Grit and Grind Grizzlies did things their way.
Unapologetically.
“All heart,” Allen had said earlier in the 2011 season after a wild victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Grit. Grind.”
That mantra would carry the Grizzlies later that season into the playoffs where they accomplished the unthinkable.
The GnG Grizzlies put themselves on the map when they stunned Tim Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 postseason.
It was the first time Memphis had made the playoffs since 2006, and they were still looking for the franchise’s first postseason series win.
They were the eighth seed, going up against the dynastic one-seeded Spurs.
What took place next was Randolph averaging 21.5 points and 9.2 rebounds as he bullied Duncan and the rest of San Antonio’s bigs, to help lead the Grizzlies to an improbable and historic 4-2 series win.
They became only the second eight-seed to take down a one-seed in a seven-game series.
Allen’s tenacious defense, along with Randolph, Gasol, and Conley’s ability to keep things moving on both sides of the ball, cemented the Grizzlies as no flash in the pan.
Over the next few years, the Grindhouse became one of the hardest places to play in the entire Association.
They had their fair share of epic postseason tilts, most notably against the Lob City Los Angeles Clippers, along with Kevin Durant‘s Thunder squads.
The Grizzlies found playoff success over the next couple years, with the pinnacle being a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2013.
This was their first (and only) conference finals appearance in franchise history.
Allen said it best during the Grizzlies’ run amongst the league’s elite, about the bond the franchise formed with the city.
“The city is something similar,” Allen said to ESPN during Memphis’ postseason run to the WCF in 2013.
“Nothing was really given to the city. People are always overlooking the city too. I mean, nobody wants to come vacay in Memphis, you know what I’m saying?
“I think people understand our struggles.
“They know everything wasn’t peaches and cream starting out. But we made our way, and we were able to overcome a lot of things.”
Nothing was given to those Grizzlies, to the Core Four.
They had to go out and take it every night.
The only way they knew how, the Memphis way.
An ode to the relentless heartbeats of the Grindhouse — Conley, Gasol, Z-Bo, and TA.
There will never be another group like them.
