Washington Wizards point guard John Wall has slammed the lack of respect the Memphis Grizzlies showed on Thursday night by resting several starters.
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With the Griz taking on the Wizards in a national television game, the visitors opted to rest Marc Gasol, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen while Mike Conley didn’t play due an injury.
Washington went on to secure a 108-87 win, and while Wall was pleased with the win, he wasn’t impressed by the lack of respect shown by the opposition in resting such key players for an important match-up.
“That’s how I see it,” said Wall, according to CSN Washington.
“They sit them, I don’t really know the reason why. We’re a team that’s on the rise and teams respect us now and then they don’t respect us. We just wanted to come out and play basketball the right way and get the win no matter what.”
While it probably didn’t matter too much to Memphis who they were facing, it was still disappointing to see them put out such a weak line-up in a TV game.
However, they are ultimately looking at the bigger picture and given that they are under such pressure for the second spot in the Western Conference, they are prioritising games down the stretch.
Nevertheless, San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich used a similar tactic last season which earned the franchise a fine, and so it remains to be seen if any action is taken by the NBA.
Memphis are currently 45-20 for the season but are just one-and-a-half games above the Portland Trail Blazers for second spot.
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