Zach Randolph got the night off.
Tony Allen continued to rest his mildly sore ankle.
The Grizzlies didn't use their full complement of players but still pulled out a 96-91 victory over the New Orleans Hornets in a preseason game Monday night at FedExForum.
Memphis' seventh victory in as many exhibition games presented Griz coach Lionel Hollins with a chance to do things differently. He did more experimenting and gave rotation players extended minutes.
Second-year center Hasheem Thabeet avoided fouling enough to stay on the court longer than he had all preseason. Rookie guard Xavier Henry used a preseason-high 27 minutes to find his best offensive rhythm.
Even O.J. Mayo got to resume his trial at point guard.
"We've got a lot of weapons," Mayo said. "We're a young, versatile team and things are starting to come together."
The last time the Griz won seven preseason games was before the 2003-04 campaign. They went on to win 50 regular-season games and earn the first of three straight playoff berths.
"Whoa," center Marc Gasol said. "I don't want to talk about that."
Preseason does not a successful run toward the postseason make. However, Gasol was willing to concede that the Griz have increasingly stacked up encouraging signs.
Henry's 6-of-12 shooting and clutch plays in the fourth quarter easily made for the smoothest outing by the 12th overall draft pick. He curled off screens and attempted shots with confidence. Henry grabbed important rebounds and played aggressive defense.
"He played well," Hollins said. "He made a lot of hustle plays. I thought the second unit did a heck of a job."
Memphis trailed 74-67 to start the fourth quarter.
Hollins started the final period with Mayo playing point guard alongside Henry, Thabeet, Sam Young and Josh Davis.
That group stormed back behind a 17-4 run largely due to earning defensive stops and turning them into big scores. Henry and Young connected on 3-pointers during the barrage.
Henry's driving layup gave the Griz an 83-78 advantage with 5:20 left to play.
"I'm getting more comfortable," said Henry, who scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half. "Every game I'm feeling more comfortable with what we run."
Henry got to the free throw line six times, too, as the Griz attempted 22 more foul shots than the Hornets.
Mike Conley, who made 9-of-10 free throws, led the Griz with 19 points. Rudy Gay chipped in 16. Darrell Arthur and Thabeet each amassed a team-high seven rebounds.
With Randolph resting, Arthur started at power forward, while Gasol and Gay also spent some time at the position.
Mayo's stint at point guard garnered mix reviews. On one play, he froze Hornets guard Curtis Jerrells with a crossover dribble and sank a shot from the foul line. Mayo found Henry for open shots on others.
Jerrells also took the ball from Mayo as the two crossed midcourt once. Mayo lost the ball off his foot against little defensive pressure on another.
"It was satisfactory in terms of we got the ball up the floor. We had some turnovers, but we got into our stuff," said Hollins, whose Griz trailed 54-50 and had given up 10 offensive rebounds at halftime. "The first half we just came out sluggish. I gave them the day off (Sunday). I asked them if I could trust them and obviously they didn't play as well as I would have liked them to.
"But they revved it up in the second half and everybody contributed. That's the way we would like to do it."
- Ronald Tillery: 529-2353
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Today: The top 10 games of the Grizzlies' era in Memphis.
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