Defensive Ace Tony Allen Will Play Tonight

Memphis Grizzlies’ defensive mastermind Tony Allen announced after the team’s shoot-around this morning that he will “definitely” play against the Golden State Warriors in tonight’s game 6 match up.

Allen sat out in game 5 against the Warriors because of a hamstring injury that has been plaguing him for over a month. Golden State won Game Five by 20 points without Allen. Klay Thompson, who had been shut down by Allen, got in a rhythm and scored 21 points while shooting 75% from 3-point land.

On playing tonight, Allen said, “Our season is on the line, I’m ready to go out there and compete….I want to be in this battle with my team.” When asked to estimate how close he is to full strength, Allen said he’s at “60 [percent] maybe.”

The Grizzlies face being eliminated tonight as they are down 3-2 in the series. With Allen playing the game, it will be interesting to see if he can keep up the great defensive work on the perimeter and to see if the Warriors go after Allen to test his strength.