Memphis Grizzlies: Shelvin Mack’s Making A Big Impact

Nobody thought much of the Memphis Grizzlies signing Shelvin Mack. Despite that, he has come in and produced in a big way to start the season.

Many fans were upset when they found out Shelvin Mack was being brought in to be the backup point guard. They preferred younger options such as Andrew Harrison and the rookie, Jevon Carter.

Mack has come in and done his job each and every game for this team. He is averaging 12 points and 3.8 assists per game while shooting the ball great from the field.

He is shooting 54.2% from the floor while also hitting 54.5% of his three-point shots. His career averages are 43% and 33% respectively so this is a huge increase to start the season.

His free-throw percentage is only at 69.2%. He has done a good job getting to the free-throw line though so we can expect that percentage to continue to rise if that keeps up.

Offensive Explosions

Shelvin Mack has had a couple huge games offensively, including in both of the Grizzlies road wins against Utah. He did struggle in Indiana to start the season but since then he has stepped up in a big way.

He had a good 12 point, 3 assist performance in the first matchup with the Utah Jazz including two big three-pointers to help secure the victory.

Since that game, he has taken it to another level though. He has been making plays on both ends of the floor but his biggest impact has been on the offensive end.

Mack did lead the team with four steals in the loss against Phoenix Sunday night so he has shown he is making an impact on the defensive end as well.

He was key in the win over the Washington Wizards, putting up 14 points and 8 assists in what was a fairly easy home win for the Grizzlies.

After that, he went back to Utah to play his former team and he made yet another statement. He made big plays down the stretch in the first meeting and he did it yet again.

Mack put up 19 points, six rebounds, and three assists to help lead Memphis to another critical road win. That was a season high in points and rebounds at the time.

He made many big shots yet again as he went 4-6 from three-point range. The efficiency he has shot the ball with has been phenomenal and you can tell it’s giving him a lot of confidence.

The Grizzlies only two road wins thus far have been the two in Utah and Mack deserves a lot of credit for them. If he didn’t make the big plays down the stretch that he did, they both could have ended differently.

Then Sunday night in Phoenix he set a new season-high in scoring as he led the Grizzlies offensively. Mike Conley and Marc Gasol both had their worst games of the season so they need other guys to step up.

He put up 21 points on 7-10 shooting. He did a good job drawing fouls as he a season-high eight free-throws, he did only make five of them and the three points he left at the line proved to be costly.

Mack was very efficient in getting to the basket and finishing at the rim. The Grizzlies offense struggled for much of the fourth quarter.

He was able to hit big shots down the stretch or the lead would’ve been blown a lot sooner than it was.

Memphis has a really tough stretch of games coming up. They’re going to need Mack to continue to play at a high level if they want to win these games.

Looking Ahead

The next four games for Memphis are going to be extremely tough. The only none playoff team from last year during that stretch is the Denver Nuggets and the were eliminated on the final night of the regular season.

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They open that stretch with three consecutive home games against Denver, Philadelphia and then Utah. Memphis is currently 3-0 at home so you’d like to see them win at least two of those games.

Shelvin Mack is going to be key to getting wins in those upcoming games. Mike Conley is off to a rough start to the season and after the game in Phoenix, it’s evident that it’s gonna take him longer to get going than he would like.

The Grizzlies have also been forced to play a lot of small ball lineups which has led to more minutes to Mack. With JaMychal Green still out due to his jaw injury and Jaren Jackson Jr. in foul trouble each game, it has led to Mack getting some extra minutes.

The way he has played in those minutes have been fantastic. They will need him to continue playing at a high level so they can get some more wins back home in Memphis.