The Memphis Grizzlies set two franchise records vs. Indiana Pacers

The Memphis Grizzlies hoped to bounce back from a blown lead against the New York Knicks in a home matchup against the Indiana Pacers. Spoiler alert — they would lose that game too, bringing their 4-game winning streak to a fast and sudden halt.

But there was a silver lining to the poor performance by the Grizzlies. That silver lining is the fact that Memphis didn’t actually play that poorly. In fact, if you ignore the horrible defense, it was a solid showing for the team.

Jonas Valanciunas had arguably the best game of his career, scoring 34 points and reeling in 22 rebounds, 12 of which came on the offensive end. The Lithuanian center had a double-double at halftime and looked like the elite NBA big man that he has been for the past couple of months.

But the Memphis Grizzlies’ loss will be remembered for its awful defense

The Grizzlies were playing an extremely strong game on the offensive end, but when you come back down to earth, you quickly realize that this team was a disaster defensively. No, they’re not going to be strong on both ends every night, but there’s something about this team that is so susceptible to a defensive implosion on any given night.

They allowed 132 points against a team that isn’t very good at scoring. In fact, the only reason that the Grizzlies were able to stick around in this game is that the Pacers were playing pretty awful defense themselves.

But as I said, there was a silver lining. In the ugly loss, the Grizzlies set two new franchise records.