Palacio gets increased playing time with coaching change

Fortunes appear to be changing for Belize’s pride of the CARICOM Games Milton Palacio and his NBA team the Vancouver Grizzlies. In mid December the Grizzlies had only four wins and a staggering eighteen losses when the decision was made to fire head coach Brian Hill. Since Lionel Hollins took over as coach two things have happened: the team is now playing Five Hundred Basketball with a record of six wins, six losses and “Milt,” who had virtually no playing time under coach Hill, now is getting regular minutes at the point guard position. In fact, Milt has replaced veteran Brent Price as the backup to Grizzlies young superstar Mike Bibby. The best game of Palacio’s NBA career so far was Sunday in a game that saw the Grizzlies defeat the Toronto Raptors one hundred seven to ninety-seven. Palacio played for thirteen minutes, scoring eleven points. An official with the Vancouver Grizzlies told News Five he believes Milton has earned the backup point guard position because he is a better defensive player than Price and coach Hollins is committed to putting the emphasis on the defense.