The Memphis Grizzlies Must Continue To Win At Home
By Chris Kern
The Memphis Grizzlies are off to a great start at home this season. They must continue to defend their home floor if they want to stay in the playoff conversation.
This team has shown pride in defending their home floor so far this season and they must continue to do so. A key to the Memphis Grizzlies season is the ability to win tough games at home.
Offensive Explosions
The offense has been much better at home than they have been on the road. They’ll need to continue to improve away from home but they must continue their success at the FedEx Forum.
In the first three games played in Memphis, they relied on their offense to get them wins. They didn’t play the best defense but they didn’t have to, all that matters are the wins.
Their first two games they were on fire shooting the ball as they shot better than 54% from the field in their wins over Atlanta and Phoenix.
They followed that up with a win over Washington in which they shot 48% from the floor. They won’t shoot lights out every game but they need to continue to play better offensively when they’re on their home floor.
Garrett Temple has had big moments at home including his 30 point performance against Atlanta. Jaren Jackson Jr. also had a season-high 24 points in that game.
The Grizzlies understand when they’re at home against bad defenses they have to take advantage.
Against Phoenix, it was more of a balanced offensive attack. In that game they had five players finish between 14 and 19 points scored.
That type of balance is something the Grizzlies have shown on the road as well. They have many guys off the bench who can chip in like Shelvin Mack and MarShon Brooks.
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Against the Wizards it was a team effort again. Marc Gasol and Mike Conley both had 19 points but they were led by Temple’s 20.
The Grizzlies have shown what they’re capable of offensively but like they have done on the road a few times they have fought to get their last two home wins against Denver and Philadelphia.
Grit And Grind 2.0
These last two games have been hard fought games in which the Grizzlies have not played very well. The home court advantage was enough for them to get both victories.
Both of these last two games have had there fair share of frustrating moments but the Grizzlies had key runs in both games to get back into both games.
The defense battled down the stretch of both games, especially against Philadelphia. They struggled to defend in the first half and they came out much better after the break.
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For a team like Memphis, it’s about scoring the ball consistently and hitting clutch shots and that’s what they did. In a game they really struggled defensively in they battled back and came up with many big stops late to force overtime and eventually win it.
Mike Conley looked like the Conley of old as he finished with a season-high 32 points. It was Garrett Temple‘s clutch shooting late in the fourth quarter that gave them a chance.
He had nine fourth-quarter points, all off of three-pointers including the game-tying three with 40 seconds to go in regulation.
They did a really good job defending Joel Embiid as they made him uncomfortable similar to the way they did with Nikola Jokic. Embiid finished with just 14 points which is his second-lowest scoring total so far this season.
They did an even better job on Jokic than they did on Embiid as Jokic was a nonfactor scoring the basketball. Jokic had just one shot attempt all game and that was the potential game-winning three-pointer as time expired.
That was after Gasol made two free throws with 4.6 seconds to go. The Grizzlies fought all game long and they made the plays down the stretch to win.
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The Memphis Grizzlies are 5-0 at home. If they can continue to win games like these past two they’re gonna have a really good season. The Grizzlies host the Utah Jazz Monday in what will be their third matchup of the season.