3 areas the Grizzlies need to improve to be competitive

The Memphis Grizzlies have been playing .500 basketball lately, winning against teams that they should beat and losing against teams that they should lose against. By saying that, I mean that the Grizzlies have found a ceiling, allowing them to keep a solid record, but lose ugly against talented squads.

We don’t have to relive the games, but Memphis has taken two 31-point losses in five games, highlighted by a 144-113 beatdown by the Pelicans. The most recent example of of a bad loss was Monday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, where the Mavs pulled away early and never looked back.

The frustrating part about these games isn’t the result – this team was expected to take quite a few losses in the absence of their second best player, Jaren Jackson Jr. It’s the way that this team is losing.

Uncharacteristically bad defense and subpar offense has been highlighted in losses

On the bright side, all of the issues that we’re seeing in these games are actually relatively obvious. This isn’t a team that’s playing well on offense and simply missing shots. The issues are right in front of our faces. This isn’t an example of a cold streak that is caused by a few off-nights, this is a team that’s still playing well in a few facets of the game.

A strong example of this was the Grizzlies’ ability to slow down Luka Doncic. They held him to his lowest point total in 15 games and for the most part, he wasn’t a very relevant part of Rick Carlisle‘s game plan. He was shooting poorly and Memphis did an honorable job of neutralizing him, but the Grizzlies still struggled defensively.

So if that’s not the issue, how do the Grizzlies get back on track? Here are 3 areas the Grizzlies need to improve before the end of the season.