It's been a frustrating few weeks for Marc Gasol. He's seen his Memphis Grizzlies, one of the league's most brutalizing and dominant squads through the first 3 1/2 months of the season, stumbling around .500 since the All-Star break, with in-fighting and locker-room malaise providing the backdrop for a vast array of losses that have dropped Memphis beneath the charging Houston Rockets into third place in the Western Conference playoff chase. The Grizzlies' late-winter puttering has sparked questions about whether Gasol, inarguably one of the most skilled and cerebral big men on the planet, can consistently serve as the sort of aggressive, take-charge leader that Dave Joerger's club can often seem to need when things get stale, and whether the Grizzlies have the firepower necessary to run the Western gauntlet if he can't.
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We're not quite sure if all that was running through Gasol's mind as he trotted back on defense early in the first quarter of Monday's meeting with the Sacramento Kings. Maybe he was just thinking about how bummed he was to miss the sort of deep 2-point jumper he regularly cans. Either way, something clearly put grinded Gasol's gears, because he found himself not only gritting and grinding, but also gripping and ripping:
Man, that's a deep rip:
Looks like Gasol went all Hulk Hogan on his jersey. #NBAKings #Grizzlies #NBA http://ift.tt/1DmXyKs
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattCSN) March 31, 2015 Deep enough, in fact, to land Marc's jersey on the disabled list:
Gasol's jersey (ripped) questionable to return. @NBAInjuryR3port http://ift.tt/1DmXz0N
— Jonathan Louis May (@jmay11) March 31, 2015 Must be something in the water that these Memphis centers drink. Here's hoping Marc doesn't follow in his predecessor's footsteps, decide to give up hoops and decide to pursue combat sports.
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Thankfully, NBA teams employ equipment managers who keep backup uniforms on hand for ... well, not necessarily for "just such an" occasion, but for unexpected uniform malfunctions, at least. So Gasol discarded his rent garment:
Let's just say Marc Gasol has a jersey malfunction. http://ift.tt/1EWRval
— Michael Wallace (@WallaceNBA_ESPN) March 31, 2015 ... and returned to the court with a crisp new top soon thereafter. It's one night late for such a "Wrestlemania"-appropriate tribute, but we're sure the Hulkster appreciates it just the same.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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