Hollins looks forward to getting in some practice

For coach Lionel Hollins, the All-Star break, which is nine days and six games away for the Grizzlies, can't come soon enough.

"Repetition is the best way to improve, and right now we're just holding on," said Hollins, whose Grizzlies fell to 14-14 after a 98-88 home loss to the Jazz at FedExForum on Sunday night. "When we come back from the All-Star break, we'll have at least two days to practice, and hopefully we'll get our plays and schemes down. We haven't had multiple days off since the start of the season."

The lack of practice has particularly hurt the Grizzlies' bench players since most of them are new this season -- several of them were obtained after the brief training camp to open the strike-shortened 66-game season.

Subsequently, it has taken Hollins until now to have faith in his bench players to leave them in the game for long stretches.

For a couple of weeks, because Hollins didn't like the play of rookie point guards Jeremy Pargo and Josh Selby, he had veteran shooting guard O.J. Mayo spell starting PG Mike Conley.

Now, that has changed. Pargo is getting minutes and playing well enough to give Conley extended rest, particularly late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.

"The last four or five minutes of the game is where it's crunch time," Conley said. "You have to make the right decisions, and having your legs is a big part of that."

Hollins has been trying as hard as he can to get his inexperienced players not to overthink situations and mentally paralyze themselves.

"It's not a hard game; it's a simple game, but sometimes they think too much" Hollins said. "I just want them to play as well as they can and make as many good decisions as they can. You have to play fast and free flowing."

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