The second quarter had barely begun when the Grizzlies went on an 11–0 scoring run, and the Toronto Raptors completely fell apart.
The lineup of Conley, Tony Allen, Link, Randolph, and Gasol showed Lionel Hollins its limitless potential. Defense, offense, and three-point shooting—this lineup could meet nearly all of Hollins's needs.
Just think: if the Grizzlies' backup forward were still Sam Young, the team could never have played such tough defense or created so much space on offense. Sometimes, whether a player can survive on a team depends not only on his ability, but also on whether he fits the team.
After the timeout following the 11–0 run, Link and Tony Allen were replaced by Gay and Mayo. After all, those two were the Grizzlies' actual starters.
With the Raptors already on the verge of collapse, Mayo and Gay put their formidable one-on-one skills to work.
Gay's driving dunk sent Kleiza spiraling further downward. And Mayo's string of audacious pull-up jumpers made DeMar DeRozan incredibly envious.
After Mayo and Gay gave the Raptors a thorough beating, Toronto went into halftime trailing by 23 points.
At the time, the entire Air Canada Centre was filled with the fans' boos. It was hard to tell whether they were booing the Grizzlies or expressing their dissatisfaction with the home team.
When the third quarter began, Zach Randolph started heating up too. He scored eight points in the first six minutes, forcing the Raptors' defense to collapse inward again.
That gave Link two chances to shoot from beyond the arc, bringing his personal score to 13 points. As a backup, Link contributed an efficient double-digit score in nearly every game. That gave the commentators yet another excuse to lavish praise on him.
After that, the Grizzlies' defense forced the Raptors to settle for jump