MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Lionel Hollins has been more successful than any Grizzlies coach and will be a free agent after June 30. He has the Grizzlies in the Western Conference finals for the first time and has won more games with this team than any other coach. He probably wouldnt have a problem getting another job, but is very happy with the one he has. And hes not worrying about what the future holds. "I have a job," Hollins said. "Im happy with where we are and excited about what were doing. Thats my only concern. Everything else is irrelevant." New owners took over in November and decided to wait until after the season to see what they had before extending contracts. That has made Hollins a popular potential candidate for other openings. Memphis needs Hollins full post-season attention right now with the Grizzlies down 0-2 heading into Saturdays Game 3 against San Antonio. They rallied from an 0-2 deficit against the Clippers in the first round, becoming only the 10th team to win four straight and the first to win all four by double digits. The challenge now is tougher because no NBA team has won two series in the same post-season after trailing 0-2. Centre Marc Gasol said Thursday that Hollins focus on the task at hand definitely helps the Grizzlies concentrate only on the Spurs right now. "We know that theres nothing we can do about it right now," Gasol said of Hollins future in Memphis. "Eventually, thats going to come, and hopefully, its going to be solved quickly after we do what were supposed to do." Dealing with adversity is nothing new for Hollins. The sixth selection overall in 1975 by Portland remembers having to wait to make sure his check had cleared in a career that included 673 games five teams. He also has a championship starting for the Trail Blazers in 1977 when they won the NBA title despite starting the finals with an 0-2 deficit themselves. Hollins started coaching at his alma mater Arizona State before returning to the NBA where he worked at Phoenix. He was an assistant on the original Grizzlies coaching staff as an expansion franchise in Vancouver in 1995 and even served as interim head coach twice before Memphis hired him the last time in January 2009 as the teams 11th head coach. "As an assistant coach, I was on a one-year contract that ran out every summer," Hollins said. "People that have jobs, their contract runs out. You still just have to do what you do while theyre there and while youre under contract." Since being brought back in January 2009, all Hollins has done is help the Grizzlies win a little bit more than they did the season before. Hes turned in his best season yet with a franchise-record 56-26 that includes the most wins at home and on the road. Hollins starts with defence. As a player, Hollins was on the NBAs All-Defensive team, and he uses that same defence-first mentality as a coach. Memphis had the leagues best this season holding opponents to 89.3 points a game and 33.5 field goal percentage. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Hollins put in a consistent system that has been taught well with the Grizzlies buying into the schemes. "I thought he did one of the best coaching jobs of the season," Popovich said of Hollins. "Hes been steady, hes been classy. Thats why theyre in the conference finals. Theyve come together really well. Thats a tribute to him, his staff and the hard work of the players. They come every night with that consistent physical effort, and thats not easy to do." Spurs forward Boris Diaw said they had seen the Grizzlies building to this success the past few years under Hollins. "Theyve been playing great together from the beginning of the season," Diaw said. "They have a great team defensively. They really play as a team. There is really no one guy dominating, its everybody playing together." Hollins faced some challenges this season that made it seem easier for the new owners to move on without him. The new owners, who took over in November, finally ended weeks of uncertainty Jan. 30 trading away leading scorer Rudy Gay to Toronto. Hollins wasnt happy, having lobbied publicly to keep his starters together for another playoff run. "When you have champagne taste, you cant be on a beer budget," Hollins said a day after the trade. But Hollins also told his players they had no excuses and to get back to work. He mixed in new players like Tayshaun Prince and Ed Davis, and the Grizzlies went 23-8 after the All-Star break for the third-best record in the NBA. "We got a good team dont forget that, but he did a great job with the trade and putting us in position the way we play having confidence," Grizzlies forward Zach Randolph said. To point guard Mike Conley, Hollins is a mentor and father figure on the court who fought for him to play at a time when team officials considered trading the point guard away back in 2009. "Hes always been on me about every single little thing I can improve on, and I think thats just made me better each day knowing that hes going to point out everything I need to improve on and not sugar coat anything and be honest with me," Conley said. "And obviously, he gave me the opportunity I have today so I just try to take advantage of it." Some of Hollins best lessons have been off the court for the Grizzlies. "Thats what he taught us that basketball is just an aspect of your life," Gasol said. "Its real important, but you have to do it the best you can. But youre working for something bigger." ------ Hydro Flask Clearance . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. Cheap Hydro Flask Sale .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. http://www.discounthydroflaskcheap.com/ . The mixed zone is not a place to make friends. Hydro Flask Sale . The catch: It needs a lot of money, and it needs it fast. Discount Hydro Flask Cheap .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. The ball had solemnly sworn it was up to no good. Then it was given to a redhead.It is the 16th over of Indias second innings. Ben Stokes came charging in and hit the deck with considerable force. The batsman picks the length up early. He prepares to get on top of the bounce by shifting his weight back and standing up taller at the crease. He has no idea he is in the worst possible position for what was about to happen. The back- of-a-length delivery turned into a grubber. Mischief most definitely managed.Virat Kohli should have been in trouble. He could even have been bowled off the inside edge. His best case scenario was if he was beaten - the line was quite wide - or if he could somehow keep the ball out. Those watching the third days play in the Visakhapatnam Test were introduced instead to the bizarre case scenario. Kohli smeared a four behind point.There were a few things that helped him pull that off. The original shot he was trying to play was with a vertical bat. So adjusting to the lack of bounce was easier than if he had attempted to play a cut, where the backlift gets bigger and therefore has a longer distance to travel. He provided himself with the same advantage in the 34th over, when the legspinner Adil Rashid produced a grubber. Kohli eased onto his backfoot and it came to rest slightly across onto off stump so that his head would be right in line with the ball. The inherent risk here is the possibility of lbw. But by playing the flick with a straight bat, and waiting to roll his wrists until he made the connection, not only did the Indian captain negate the chance of his being dismissed, he found another boundary.Free-flowing batsmen find difficulty keeping up on slow and low pitches. The lack of pace means hitting through the line is difficult and even maneuvering the ball into gaps requires a great deal of effort. Kohli seems to be settiing the template to prove that obsolete although if you want to follow it, youd best hope you have hands as quick and a work ethic as strong as his.dddddddddddd The thousands of balls he hits in the nets, the visualisation he does, the tweaks to his technique, all of it is in an effort to make sure he is equipped to make tough runs; to make sure he has a game he can trust when the pressure is high; to make sure he can not only tackle high-class bowling but dominate.Kohli faced more than 100 deliveries on a third and fourth day surface with wild variations in bounce and finished with a strike-rate of 74. No one that had lasted as long in this match has even come close to scoring that quickly. You have to want to be there, he often says, and watching him be there is a lot of fun. There are the bat twirls. The fiddling with the grille. The re-strapping of the gloves. The tapping of the pitch. He just doesnt want to be idle. He doesnt want his concentration levels to drop because thats when he knows he may not read the play as quickly. He barely spends any time away from the stumps. No trips to square leg to slow the game down. Hes ready in his stance, looking at the bowler with the impatience of a child waiting for their parent to take them to the park.It must be draining to be so switched on. But thats why both his physical and mental strength are high. At stumps yesterday, he had made more than half of Indias total - 56 out of 98. He finished with 81, only because of a spectacular catch at slip, stabilising India from an early wobble and giving them the chance to set a target never before achieved in the fourth innings of a Test in India. Kohli is a fantastic beast and everyone knows where to find him. At the heart of of a fight. ' ' '
