A look back at Marc Gasol's signature playoff moment

Marc Gasol's signature playoff moment was a sweet memory that eventually became the swan song to the Core 4.

Most great players have their signature playoff moment. Everyone knows Michael Jordan’s moment — Utah fans won’t let it go. LeBron James has the fadeaway 3 over Hedo Turkoglu in the late 2000’s. The Shaq and Kobe alley oop. Ray Allen’s corner 3 in the 2013 NBA Finals. Ja Morant has one too — you can debate whether it’s his game-winner in Game 5 against the Timberwolves in 2022, or if it’s his poster dunk on Malik Beasley.

The list goes down throughout history.

Marc Gasol’s signature playoff moment occurred in the 2017 playoffs in game 4 of their first-round series with the San Antonio Spurs.

To set the scene, it had been a thriller. The Grizzlies and Spurs were trading buckets, with Mike Conley and Kawhi Leonard leading the charge. The two players exchanged go-ahead buckets in the 4th quarter to kick the game into overtime.

It’s a blast to rewatch, by the way:

The game was knotted up at 108 with 7.2 seconds left in overtime. The Grizzlies had a SLOB (sidelines out of bounds play) drawn up. From there, we have Marc Gasol’s signature playoff moment:

Let's walk it back now:

Zach Randolph is on the in-bounds. They structure it almost like a 4-on-4, as James Ennis pulls a man to the weak-side corner. Marc Gasol is at the strong elbow. Mike Conley is at the nail (middle of the free throw line). Troy Daniels is on the weak-side wing.

Mike Conley gets the ball near halfcourt. As Zach Randolph drifts to the corner, Marc Gasol steps up towards Conley.

And here comes the 2-man game.

Off the catch, Conley darts towards Gasol for a possible hand-off. You can already see Aldridge cheat the hand-off to hedge, in the event Danny Green is caught behind Conley.

Gasol makes his move towards the center of the paint to fake the DHO.

Now watch what happens off the gather…

Kawhi Leonard doesn’t fully commit to helping off his man to double Gasol. He’d be leaving Troy Daniels — at the time, a 38.9% 3-point shooter who had hit 2 of his 3 three’s in this game — open, with James Ennis setting a down screen to free up a look.

So then it’s just Gasol and Aldridge.

And now how Gasol rises up…

Gasol’s release point is as high as the Bass Pro Pyramid, giving Aldridge no possibility of blocking the shot. Meanwhile, he has a 1-legged base with his fadeaway to generate enough separation from his defender.

Swish.

Ball game.

Marc Gasol helped the Grizzlies secure a Game 4 win to tie the series at 2 in signature, game-winning fashion.

With Marc Gasol’s game-winner, each member of the “Core 4” had a signature playoff moment. It was Game 6 of the 1st round of the 2011 playoffs for Zach Randolph. The “Masked Mike” game in 2015 for Mike Conley. For Tony Allen, you could choose between his “First-Team All-Defense” stop on Klay Thompson in 2015, or a defensive performance so good Oklahoma City newspapers had the main headline of “Mr. Unreliable” for Kevin Durant in 2014. And Marc Gasol’s game-winner against the Spurs in 2017 became his moment.

Little do we know though it was ultimately the swan song for our beloved Core 4 era. It was the last playoff win the Grizzlies had in the “Core 4” era — though it wasn’t the same as Tony Allen was out for the entire series with a calf injury.

Their last playoff series had interesting ties. They played the opponent they upset to ignite their era. Pau Gasol — the franchise’s first All-Star, and Marc’s older brother — was on the team as well.

This series — and this particular moment — was an encapsulation of the classic line, “I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them.” (Thank you, Andy Bernard).

This Marc Gasol signature moment hits differently than the rest. It was one of the last few times this particular group shared the floor together. It was the last moment of this era.

And though the “Core 4” era didn’t win a NBA championship, it was a special era that will have a stranglehold on the city forever. Before the “Core 4,” the Grizzlies and winning weren’t really synonymous. The “Core 4” was responsible for instilling a winning culture in Memphis. We couldn’t really even dream of a realistic possibility of a championship coming to Memphis. They put Memphis Grizzlies basketball on the map, and gave the team a unique identity — one that couldn’t be replicated with the same success elsewhere. This quartet ushered in a new generation of Grizzlies fans, giving this fanbase memories that’ll last a lifetime. More importantly, with Marc Gasol and the rest of the “Core 4,” they had cornerstones that fit Memphis’ mentality, and embraced the city with arms wide open.

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