Mike Conley knows better than anyone how gritty the Memphis Grizzlies can be.
“The Grizzlies are and have always been a team that’s fought and been a hard-working organization,” Conley, who spent 12 seasons in Memphis, said before the series began.
Everyone in Utah knows it now, too.
The Grizzlies grabbed a Game 1 victory in Salt Lake City, beating the No. 1-seeded Jazz 112-109 on Sunday night.
“They wanted it and they really worked for this one,” Conley said. “We have to match that energy.”
Everything that could have gone wrong for the Jazz seemed to go wrong in Game 1, starting a few hours before tipoff.