Grizzlies have malice toward none of the Spurs

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — — It will be the same home court, the same boisterous fans, the same rally towels that were in play in the first round of the playoffs when the Memphis Grizzlies returned to FedEx Forum trailing the Clippers, two games to nothing.

It’s just that something will be missing Saturday in Game 3 when the Grizzlies try to take the first step back from a 2-0 deficit against the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals.

The hatred.

Instead of Blake Griffin’s elbows there will be Tim Duncan’s finesse. Instead of Chris Paul’s words there will be Tony Parker’s smarts.

Good luck deriving extra motivation from that.

“You try to start something in your own mind and make you upset at them, but you can’t find many things,” Memphis point guard Mike Conley said Friday of the Spurs. “They’ve got the class, they’ve got the discipline, they’ve got the coach, they work and all that. You respect them more than anybody, and you’ve just got to go out there and play the game of basketball and try to win.”

Double fouls and technical fouls were a big part of the story when the Grizzlies came back to oust the Clippers with four consecutive victories in the first round. The teams combined for 15 technical fouls in six games, including one on Paul for a blow to Marc Gasol’s groin area in the final minutes of Game 6.

“It was motivation,” acknowledged Memphis power forward Zach Randolph, who repeatedly tussled with Griffin in their series, “but that’s part of the game.”

Not against San Antonio.

The Grizzlies and Spurs have not committed one technical foul in the first two games of this series. The only chippy moment was a flagrant foul on the Spurs’ Manu Ginobili late in Game 2 that was widely perceived as an acting job by the Grizzlies’ Tony Allen when he collapsed hard on a drive to the basket. The NBA fined Allen $5,000 Friday for violating the league’s anti-flopping rule.

Even that was nearly forgotten a day later.

It seems it’s hard to stay mad at an opponent who prefers playing the game to mind games.

“It ain’t like the Clippers,” Randolph said. “They don’t really do too much talking. They just go out and play and get it done.”

Memphis guard Quincy Pondexter said the series against the Spurs reminds him of the conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder, another team that mostly sticks to basketball.

“It had nothing to do with whether you liked someone or not,” Pondexter said. “We just go out and play basketball. It’s us versus them.”

Of course, the Thunder wasn’t much of a challenge with star guard Russell Westbrook sidelined by an injury. The Spurs are an ageless wonder with their core of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili playing so well into their 30s.

Anyone who expects the Grizzlies to win the next four games by an average of 14 points, the way they did against Clippers, might be stuck in La-La Land.

“We’re playing the Spurs,” Memphis Coach Lionel Hollins said. “A totally different team. A tougher animal.”

And one that doesn’t prey on emotions.

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