Grizzlies' Gay starts to look special
By Ronald Tillery
Rudy Gay received a telephone call he had to accept just before the regular-season began.
Former Grizzlies president Jerry West dialed up his prized pupil -- the one player he left behind to make a lasting impression in Memphis.
Admittedly, Gay was thrilled. As pep talks go, this one was apparently unparalleled.
Gay hung on every word.
"He just talked to me about what I needed to do with the season about to start," Gay recalled. "The main thing he said was to be consistent."
Beyond the euphoria of Gay's buzzer-beating 3-pointer that propelled the Grizzlies past the San Antonio Spurs with an 88-85 victory Wednesday night is that the second-year forward continues to grow as a reliable and expressive offensive threat.
Just as West envisioned.
"I kind of deferred to other players last year. Now I'm more motivated to do things," Gay said as the Griz prepared to play tonight at Detroit. "I'm more ready for whatever happens. There was a lot going on last year, and I let that get the best of me. This year, I decided I'm going to go out there and play no matter what."
Gay has scored 20 or more points in seven games this month. He has done so 12 times this season compared to just eight times in 78 appearances as a rookie.
He has five times more 30-plus games than he had last year, and 1,000 times more reverence and expectations from coaches and teammates.
Conventional wisdom and Gay's unabashed desire to reach stardom suggest that the Griz need not look any further for a go-to guy.
"He's a gifted basketball player. He makes the game easy offensively," guard Mike Miller said. "He understands what he's doing. He's starting to figure it out. Plus, we go to him a lot more. It's good for him because it gives him an understanding of what he has to do in this league at that position.
"He's tough to guard. People are going to have to start doubling him. Once they start doubling him we're going to find out what kind of player he is. It's going to be exciting to see him grow."
The statistics routinely back Gay's eye-popping emergence.
He has averaged 29 points -- including back-to-back career-high 32-point outings -- over the past three games. And he has done so with impressive efficiency given that he has converted 57 percent (35-of-61) of his shots during that span.
Unlike what has been the case over the past six years with Pau Gasol -- the Grizzlies' perennial leading scorer and rebounder -- there doesn't seem to be a hesitance to follow Gay's lead.
What Gay learned the most from the end of last season until now is how to produce without selfishly dominating the ball.
"That's a shot that catapults people," veteran guard Damon Stoudamire said of Gay's winner over Tim Duncan and the Spurs. "You get a lot of confidence behind shots like that. And we're starting to give him sets.
"But for a guy who wasn't getting any sets ran for him and was still getting 20-plus points a game ... that's impressive. He improves every game. He's going to be special."
The final play against San Antonio with 2.4 seconds left was actually designed for Mike Miller, who had already tossed in a season-high 31 points. With Miller closely guarded, Juan Carlos Navarro found Gay, who knew exactly what he wanted to do with the ball.
Forget for a second that the ball sailed cleanly through the basket.
Before that, Gay showed poise, calmness and desire as the play developed. So there's little concern with Gay's deficiencies on defense and with play-making.
"I think Rudy came in this year saying 'I can do some special things,'" Griz coach Marc Iavaroni said. "'I don't want to be just a scorer. I want to be a guy who can play some defense, guard a tough guy, make big shots, score in the low post and score on the perimeter.'"
That Gay is starting to excel at power forward as well as he does at small forward bodes well for the Griz and fosters the match-up nightmare Iavaroni envisions will routinely fluster opponents.
The idea of Gay performing as a "Phoenix 4" in the mold of Shawn Marion has been a slow-developing concept. But Gay is learning this: His skill set is far greater than Marion's, and he's even more dangerous when he rebounds.
"I've wanted to add something every year," said Gay, who had nine boards against the Spurs. "Something that's been good for me this year is going in the post and actually being able to score down there."
Playing against bigger, stronger players has also tapped into Gay's toughness.
For example, Gay grabbed a defensive rebound over San Antonio's Matt Bonner and delivered an elbow to clear space. Bonner took exception and elbowed Gay a few times while the pair jogged down court.
The officials tagged Bonner with a foul. Gay just smiled.
"He's playing unbelievable right now. I knew he had it in him," reserve Hakim Warrick said. "He's playing like an All-Star. He's been carrying us. The sky's the limit for him because the confidence is there. You can see it in his whole approach."
Credit West for the early and effective pep talk.
"Jerry believed in me. It's more than just basketball," Gay said. "One of the reasons I want to be great is because I feel that I owe him.
"I'd like to hear from the legend a little more than I do. But I know he's busy."
Maybe so. But no one is more active than Gay.
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Call from West motivates Gay
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