Mike Conley felt frustrated, out of sync. The shooting touch that had always been so reliable had been failing him and he likened the struggle to regain his form to being stuck in quicksand: the harder you fight, the more you sink.
That all changed Wednesday night.
The veteran point guard saw one shot fall, then another, and another. He raised his arms in the air, asked the roaring crowd to be louder still, and listened to them chant his name.
Mountain Mike had finally walked out of the desert.
“I hate that it had to start this way,” Conley said of his early-season struggles.