Tony Allen has had an up and down season compared to his previous seasons dawning a Memphis Grizzlies jersey. Allen battled injuries and missed 27 games this year. The injury caused him to come off the bench for the first time since the early part of his first season with Memphis. If you know and watch Tony Allen starting or coming off the bench doesn’t matter to the defensive guru. Whether Allen is starting or playing 10 minutes the relentless effort will remain the same.
Allen is arguably the best perimeter defender in the NBA has injected life into the Memphis Grizzlies since playing big minutes in the second half of Game 1 of the playoff series against the OKC Thunder. Everyone has their Kryptonite, and so far this playoffs Tony Allen has been Kevin Durant’s Kryptonite. By default I think Tony Allen should win the Defensive Player of the Year, because he is a last of dying breed in the NBA on the defensive side of the ball.
Allen has played masterful against Kevin Durant. Even though Durant is averaging 33.0ppg thus far, he is shooting close to 40% which is way under his season average of 50.1%. With guarding a player like Durant the point total won’t be a factor since he is a volume shooter. Allen is making Durant work for every bit of the points he is receiving, and it will remain that way the rest of the series.
The Memphis Grizzlies are in perfect position up 2-1 and they are playing their next home game in the Grind House. That has a lot to do with the play of Tony Allen. It’s rewarding to see a player of Allen’s style still have an impact on the game on the defensive side of the ball. The NBA game itself may be “soft”, but in Memphis that word isn’t in their vocabulary.
The impact of Tony Allen has changed the series by leaps and bounds. The Grizzlies will continue to have their hands full in containing the explosive OKC Thunder, but they may have enough ammo to stay afloat.
