True to their word, the Memphis Grizzlies don’t bluff. It’s an admirable, if limiting, quality. There’s something we find noble about a person that tears straight forward at an opponent, all hustle, heart, grit and grind.
But the thing about not bluffing is that sometimes the cards just aren’t there to play straight up. What then?
The NBA playoffs are a giant spotlight. The further a team advances, the brighter the spotlight; the brighter the spotlight, the more glaring a team's flaws become. The magnifying glass can reveal enough without a team laying all their cards on the table.
Matchups play an important part in all of this because when teams of equal talent or esteem face off in the shortened confines of a playoff series, all too often the team that can best exploit a team’s vulnerabilities walks away the winner and into the NBA finals.
Two years ago when the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs met the eighth-seeded Grizzlies the Spurs had two key vulnerabilities that swung the matchups in Memphis’ favor.