Grizzlies

Zach Randolph had 31 points and 11 rebounds and the Grizzlies advanced to their first Western Conference semifinals and made NBA history in knocking off the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs, 99-91, last night in Memphis. Memphis had been the franchise best known for empty seats and the unenviable NBA mark for playoff futility at 0-12 after being swept in its first three appearances. This time, a third straight sellout crowd cheered every bucket with a couple signs begging the Grizzlies to "Finish Them" in a town in desperate need of a hero.

The Memphis Grizzlies' recent success at home has come against some of the league's top teams. And Zach Randolph has been playing like one of the league's top forwards. Randolph had 32 points and a career-high 24 rebounds to help the Grizzlies hold on for a 102-96 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets yesterday. In the last 3 weeks, Memphis has claimed victories over Dallas, Cleveland and now the Nuggets, all of whom sit atop their respective divisions. "This builds our confidence up a lot," Randolph said.

Rudy Gay scored 24 points, O.J. Mayo added 20 and Memphis beat visiting Sacramento last night, 116-105, sending the Kings to their fourth straight loss. Marc Gasol finished with 18 points and four blocks for the Grizzlies, who won for the fourth time in the last five games. Zach Randolph had 16 and Mike Conley added 11 points and seven assists. Rookie Tyreke Evans led the Kings with 28 points, connecting on 10-for-18 from the field, and Sergio Rodriguez had 16 points and seven assists.

Lionel Hollins is working on a contract with the Grizzlies to serve as their head coach for the third time, but the first time without the "interim" label. Memphis general manager Chris Wallace confirmed last night that he hoped to reach an agreement with the Milwaukee Bucks assistant by the end of the weekend to replace the fired Marc Iavaroni. Wallace said before the Grizzlies' game against Knicks in Madison Square Garden that he wanted Hollins to be able to run some practices before Tuesday's game with Denver.

My first visit to Glacier National Park begins with mixed feelings. There is excitement at the prospect of an extraordinary adventure in a place prized for its rugged beauty, biodiversity, and exceptional trail system. A protected wilderness of more than a million acres, the park is also one of the few places in the world where grizzly bears roam free. But however rare the encounters between bears and hikers are, the potential for danger makes me hesitate - it takes considerable coaxing from my husband before I agree to a week of hiking in the Montana Rockies.

It has been a hard winter in Missoula, Mont. It always is a hard winter in Missoula. Those growling Grizzlies of the University of Montana supplied the sunshine. They won the Big Sky Conference regular-season championship. As a reward, they got to host the conference tournament. Saturday, the Grizzlies blasted those marauding Vandals of Idaho right out of Adams Field House and back across the state line to Moscow. Montana was the biggest star of the Big Sky. After seven 20-win seasons since 1975, the Grizzlies (23-7 this season)

For Vancouver, it was a Canadian catastrophe. The Grizzlies set an NBA record for futility by an expansion team with their 18th straight loss last night, and they couldn't have picked a worse opponent. The visiting Toronto Raptors defeated Vancouver last night, 93-81, behind rookie Damon Stoudamire's 24 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. "We didn't want to be the team that Vancouver beat," Stoudamire said. We just wanted to go out there and jump on them early, and that's what we did. " Miami had held the record by going 0-17 to start the 1988-89 season.

The Vancouver Grizzlies can shop around for a new home. The Grizzlies, who will lose at least $40 million this year, were given permission by NBA commissioner David Stern to explore moving to another city next season. St. Louis, New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Nashville, Tenn., have been mentioned as possible destinations. Owner Michael Heisley, a Chicago businessman who paid $160 million to buy the Grizzlies in 1999, met with Stern and deputy commissioner Russ Granik yesterday at a Washington hotel to discuss the team's future.

This is how bad things have gotten in Detroit: The Pistons already have been swept in the season series by Vancouver, they have the fourth-worst record in the East and they don't have any explanation. The visiting Grizzlies completed a sweep of the season series when Grant Hill missed two foul shots with 2.1 seconds left in the Pistons' 97-95 loss last night. Antonio Daniels hit a short running jumper with 3.1 seconds left to break a tie, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim then fouled Hill on the inbounds pass.

The Memphis Grizzlies rehired Lionel Hollins, a former assistant and interim head coach with the team, as an assistant coach. Hollins, 49, was the Grizzlies' interim head coach for the last 60 games of the 1999-2000 season, finishing with an 18-42 record, when the team was based in Vancouver. The former 76ers guard had been the Grizzlies' lead assistant coach beginning in 1995-96, their inaugural season, until getting the interim job. After leaving the Grizzlies, Hollins served briefly as a head coach in the United States Basketball League and the International Basketball League and as an assistant with the Harlem Globetrotters.

The Los Angeles Clippers refused to let a third chance to knock the Grizzlies out of the playoffs slip away. Kenyon Martin scored seven of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with an 82-72 win over the Grizzlies in Game 7 on Sunday in Memphis, Tenn. "That's why it's seven games," Martin said. "If you don't do it before, you get another chance. So they did what they had to do, they came and stole home court back on our floor.

James Harden scored 15 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder rallied for a 103-97 win Saturday night to sweep the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks out of the playoffs in four straight. The Thunder trailed by 13 points with 9 minutes, 44 seconds left before Harden scored seven in a row, and nine in a 12-0 run over the next three minutes. Oklahoma City finally took the lead, and kept it, after Russell Westbrook stole the ball from Dirk Nowitzki and passed to Serge Ibaka for a two-handed slam that made it 92-91 with 5:17 left.

OJ. Mayo passed up one three-pointer with the Memphis Grizzlies' lead dwindling in the final minute. He wasn't going to do it again. Mayo scored 22 points, including a key three-pointer with 17 seconds left, and the Grizzlies prevented Oklahoma City from tying for the NBA's best record by beating the Thunder, 94-88, on Monday night. "It was a good look. I had my feet set," Mayo said. "I just wanted to knock it down. " One possession earlier, Mayo was in about the same spot and passed the ball to Zach Randolph, who had to force a three-point attempt that hit the backboard and didn't touch the rim for a shot-clock violation.

* MISSING. 8 tonight, 6 ABC.   ASHLEY JUDD and Kiefer Sutherland return to television tonight. Guess which one's playing Jack Bauer? Hint: It's not Sutherland. His character in Fox's "Touch" (9 p.m., Fox 29) which reruns the pilot first previewed in January before officially launching as a series next week, is an ex-journalist and the single father of a young son (David Mazouz) with whom he can't communicate. Judd, who left her last TV series, "Sisters," nearly 18 years ago to pursue a successful movie career, stars in ABC's "Missing," where she plays Becca Winstone, an ex-CIA agent and the mother of a somewhat older son (Nick Eversman)

MEMPHIS - It wasn't that long ago that the 76ers had the look of conquistadors on a quest in search of their next victim. Well, they still are searching, but what they are looking for has changed. After an 89-76 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in front of an announced crowd of 14,258 at the FedEx Forum, the Sixers are desperately seeking their offensive touch - and a few agreeable whistles from the referees wouldn't hurt - with one game remaining before the all-star break. It was the third time out of the last seven games that the Sixers (20-13)

MEMPHIS - The drought lasted too long and the deficit grew too wide. The 76ers started the game by missing 14 of their first 17 shots while allowing the Memphis Grizzlies to make 11 of their first 15. And no matter how valiant the effort was to overcome a deficit that grew to as many as 21 in the first quarter, there just wasn't enough time, or healthy bodies, to get the Sixers a come-from-behind win. Playing without Elton Brand, who...

MEMPHIS - The drought lasted too long and the deficit grew too wide. The 76ers started the game by missing 14 of their first 17 shots while allowing the Memphis Grizzlies to make 11 of their first 15. And no matter how valiant their effort was to overcome a lead that grew to as many as 21 in the first quarter, there just wasn't enough time, or healthy bodies, to get the Sixers a come-from-behind win. Playing without Elton Brand, who reinjured his...

Blake Griffin and Andrew Bynum have been voted to the All-Star Game, joining Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul to give the city of Los Angeles four starters. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant kept the West from being an entire L.A. story by earning a forward spot for the Feb. 26 game in Orlando, Fla. The Clippers' Griffin and the Lakers' Bynum are first-time starters, while Bynum's teammate Bryant earned his record-tying 14th consecutive nod. Paul plays with Griffin for the Clippers.

A LAWYER HAS entered a no-contest plea for Kyle Lowry in a bid for dismissal of a misdemeanor battery case alleging the Houston Rockets guard threw a basketball at a female referee and threatened her during a game at a Las Vegas gym last September during the NBA lockout. A court clerk said the 25-year-old Lowry didn't appear with his lawyer, Patrick McDonald, before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman. Goodman agreed to dismiss the case July 19 if Lowry completes 100 hours of community service at a battered women's shelter or a similar program, completes an impulse control counseling program and stays out of trouble for 6 months.

DWYANE WADE'S role as captain of the Miami Heat comes with certain privileges. For example, he can occasionally shake off calls from Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Wade and LeBron James each scored 22 points, Mike Miller added 14 off the bench, and the Heat rode the strength of a brilliant 18-minute run midway through the game to beat the visiting New Orleans Hornets, 109-95, last night. The Hornets finished with only 25 rebounds, the lowest total in the NBA this season. James had 11 rebounds - more than any two Hornets - and eight assists for Miami, which had six players in double figures and outscored New Orleans 54-23 from the midpoint of the second quarter through the end of the third.