The Atlanta Hawks flight to Memphis was delayed overnight, forcing the club to fly into town just 90 minutes before town by police escort.

Despite the travel conditions, the Hawks played the Grizzlies tough, losing by just one point, 84-83.

Jason Williams led all scorers with 23 points and also recorded 8 assists.

The Atlanta Hawks left their arena immediately following their loss to Miami on Friday night hoping to get to Memphis early Saturday morning. As of Saturday afternoon, they still haven't left Atlanta.

Atlanta Hawks, which are scheduled to face Memphis at 8pm ET, got stranded at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the midst of an ice storm which was sweeping through Atlanta with freezing rain and sleet, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

LeBron James shook off a sprained left ankle to help the Cavaliers defeat the short-staffed Grizzlies 114-111 Wednesday night.  

James finished with 27 points, 15 assists and 9 rebounds, narrowly missing another triple-double.  It looked as though James' night was over when he twisted his ankle with 9:23 left and the Cavaliers up by 10. But after being helped off the floor, James dramatically returned with 4:53 remaining and helped close out Memphis

The Memphis Grizzlies placed their leading scorer and rebounder Pau Gasol on the injured list on Tuesday with an injured left foot before their game against the Orlando Magic.

This is the first time Gasol has been placed on the injured list in his four-year career. The 7-foot forward missed three games earlier this season with a sprained right ankle.

Gasol is averaging 18.9 points and 8.2 rebounds in almost 34 minutes a game for Memphis. In the Grizzlies' Jan. 19 win at Phoenix, Gasol scored five points, breaking a string of 103 consecutive games in double figures.

Memphis Grizzlies play-by-play announcer Don Poier, whose enthusiastic and humorous delivery reflected passion and love for his job and for life, was found dead early Friday afternoon in his Denver hotel room.

Poier, 53, who spoke on Thursday night to a group of Grizzlies' sponsors who made the trip to Denver for Friday night's game against the Nuggets, apparently had a heart attack in his hotel room at the Westin Tabor Center.

"This is a dark, dark day for all of us," said Andy Dolich, the Grizzlies' president of business operations, who was in Denver with the team. "You can't grasp the enormous loss to all of us personally and professionally. The tragic part is we won't have that magnificent voice describing what this team is doing as it continues to climb."

Poier, who had spent more than 20 years as a regional announcer on Pacific 10 Conference football and basketball telecasts, had been with the team since its inception in Vancouver in 1995 as the radio play-by-play voice. This year, he switched to TV and did radio when the Grizzlies weren't scheduled for local TV, as was the case Friday night.

Poier also provided the play-by-play voice for EA Sports' NBA Live series for several years before EA brought Marv Albert and Mike Fratello, the current Grizzlies head coach, into the fold.

Rip Hamilton became the first player in league history to lead his team in scoring without making a field goal, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Hamilton, who had 14 points, missed all 10 of his shots from the floor and made all 14 free throws in a 101-79 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

"It was just one of those nights," he said.

"I never thought I would have to coach effort," Pistons coach Larry Brown said. "I've never had to do that in my entire life, and this is the last group that I expected to have to do it with.

"Maybe a game like this will make us recognize how bad it is," he said.

Behind Bonzi Wells? 23 points the Memphis Grizzlies easily handled the defending champion Pistons 101-79 to move to 17-17 on the season.  

The Grizzlies took the lead from the very beginning and never trailed thereafter.  

Mike Miller scored 17, Shane Battier had 12, Stromile Swift scored 11 and Lorenzen Wright added 10. Memphis made 12 of 21 3-pointers and had several easy dunks. Wells, who was drafted by Detroit, was 9-of-15 off the bench.

This is the Pistons most lopsided loss in two years.

The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Jazz 92-82, giving the Jazz their sixth straight loss. Utah has now lost nine of their last 10.

"We're getting it," forward Shane Battier said. "We feel better about ourselves, and we feel we have some go-to things, guys who we know can get a bucket or guys who are really stepping up now. I don't know if we had that at the start of the year."

"The food doesn't taste good. You don't sleep, but we kept fighting back more than we have," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "This is important if you want to make improvements and come out of this."

Knicks? Guard Stephon Marbury and Grizzlies? Foward-Center Pau Gasol were named the Eastern Conference and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played from December 27 through January 2.

Marbury, leading the Knicks to a 2-1 record this week in the absence of fellow Guard Jamal Crawford, averaged 32.3 points on 59.3% shooting, 8.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.33 steals in games against Orlando, Minnesota and New Jersey (Loss). Marbury recorded 30 or more points in three consecutive games, becoming the first Knicks player to do so since Patrick Ewing during the 1996-97 season.

Gasol led the Grizzlies to a perfect 3-0 record this week, averaging 23.7 points on 66.7% shooting, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists in wins over the L.A. Clippers, Boston and Minnesota. Gasol went 9-10 from the floor on January 1 in a 104-95 win over Minnesota, including 16 points (6-of-6 FG, 4-of-5 FT) as the Grizzlies outscored the Timberwolves 31-19 in the third quarter on their way to victory.

Things look bleak when you trail the Minnesota Timberwolves by 15 points in the first half at the Target Center, but the Memphis Grizzlies were scrapped and came back to defeat the Wolves by a final score of 104-95.

Pau Gasol had 23 points and Earl Watson had 20 for the Grizzlies.

Kevin Garnett had 30 points and 10 rebounds for Minnesota, who have now lost 4 out of their last 5 games.