Grizzlies Try to Rebound by Replacing Hill With Hollins

The Vancouver Grizzlies, the worst team in the Western Conference, fired coach Brian Hill on Thursday. Assistant Lionel Hollins will replace Hill on an interim basis.

The Grizzlies (4-18) are 1-15 in its last 16 games and has lost six straight at home.

“I believe this team has the talent level to play better and the capability to compete harder and I felt that a coaching change was necessary in order to facilitate improvement,” General Manager Stu Jackson said.

After making seven off-season changes to a team that finished with an NBA-low 8-42 record last year, Jackson felt the Grizzlies were not responding.

“This is a relatively new group for all intents and purposes and it’s my belief that [the chemistry] is there and it needs to be unleashed and unlocked. And we hope that by changing a small piece that we can at least make our way to accomplishing that,” said Jackson, who called this the Grizzlies most experienced and talented team in the club’s five-year history.

Hill was in his third season with the Grizzlies. He was hired after being dismissed in the middle of the 1996-97 season by the Orlando Magic, whom he led to the NBA finals in 1995.

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Antonio Davis of the Toronto Raptors was fined $5,000 by the NBA for making an obscene gesture toward the stands in Tuesday’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Toronto.