The Memphis Grizzlies will be looking to bounce back from a tough loss during their home opener on Friday, October 25th against the Chicago Bulls.
The Memphis Grizzlies suffered a tough 120-101 loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday, October 23rd, and their looking to bounce back in their home opener against the Chicago Bulls on Friday, October 25th at 8:00 pm EST.
After making some huge, overarching roster changes over the summer, it’s not surprising that things didn’t come together perfectly in the first game, but Memphis is hoping to prove that those struggles were just one-offs, and they hope to prove themselves during this inter-conference matchup.
A young team is always going to have problems coming together right away, but with the opportunity against another young and rebuilding team. Out of Memphis’ first ten games, six are against potential playoff teams, so picking up wins against those four other teams, one of whom is Chicago, will be incredibly important for Memphis’ season not to derail right away.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier from that point, but if the Grizzlies can pull off a win here, it could be a huge momentum boost.
The Grizzlies and the Bulls are looking at two very different situations when it comes to their roster.
Over the massive free agency summer of 2019, the Grizzlies saw a massive change in their roster. Of the players on the Grizzlies roster during the 2018-19 season, only six players remain. Of those six, four of them are part of the starting five.
Of the new players on the roster, the Grizzlies will be looking for constant production from players like Tyus Jones, Jae Crowder, and Grayson Allen, along with their crop of new rookies such as Ja Morant and Brandon Clarke.
Meanwhile, the Bulls are looking at almost the exact same roster that they had last year. While they did make some nice additions over the summer in players like Luke Kornet, Thaddeus Young, Otto Porter Jr., and Coby White.
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While the Grizzlies arguably The Grizzlies will be looking to show exactly what this revamped roster is made of through all 82 games of the 2019-2020 regular season, and their debut against the Miami Heat will be no exception.have more talent on their roster, the Bulls will have the advantage of advanced chemistry coming into the 2019-2020 season. Still, this could be a case where the depth that the Grizzlies have over Chicago could prove incredibly beneficial.
Memphis is going to continue to look specifically at the dynamic duo of Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., who in their last game against the Heat, combined for 31.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.0 blocks and 2.0 steals. The two will need to put up a few more points, and make rebounds a much bigger focus if they want to change their season around.
Not all looks bleak though, for instance, Jones came out to play in his Grizzlies debut on Wednesday. He recorded 15.0 points, 7.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 rebounds. He will need to become slightly more efficient while shooting, as he went 6-12 from the field, including 0-1 from 3-point, as well as shooting 3-5 from the line.
The Grizzlies will be looking to show that the struggles in their first game were just flukes, and there’s no better chance for them to do that then against this Chicago Bulls team.