The Grizzlies were embarrassed against the Pelicans a couple of days ago, but showed resilience in a bounce-back game against the Thunder.
After the Grizzlies lost a couple of nights ago to the Pelicans, there was nervousness in the air. This gave them their 6th loss in 8 games, putting an aura of uncertainty in the city of Memphis. What if this was a sign of how the rest of the season will go?
The worst part about the loss was the defense. This Memphis team prides themselves on being one of the best defensive teams in the league, even without Jaren Jackson Jr., but that just wasn’t the case the other night. Things looked bleak for a second. But Ja Morant and his team weren’t ready to relive the end of the 2019-2020 season.
So they buckled down and played hard against a solid opponent. Sure, the Thunder don’t have the flashiest record or any star players, but they’ve never been an easy team to beat. There’s a strong foundation in Oklahoma City and this was never going to be a walk in the park.
The Grizzlies got the win regardless, wrapping up their third win in five games. But it wasn’t easy the entire way. For a majority of the game, the Grizzlies were unable to pull away from a team that now sits second to last in the West. Those same worries were coming back that maybe this team had just over-performed most of the year.
This was quickly shut down when Memphis finally pulled away late, asserting their dominance over a depleted lower-tier team. This was a much needed win, keeping them from dropping to 11-13, and it came at the perfect time for a team that was lacking confidence.
There were plenty of positive takeaways in this game, but today, we’re going to get into three of them.