The Memphis Grizzlies have been defined by the word “almost” thus far in 2021. There have been a handful of really solid wins, but in a lot of cases, the game has resulted in an “almost” for Memphis. We saw it against the Dallas Mavericks in a heartbreaking loss. We saw it when the Grizzlies played the Denver Nuggets just over a month ago.
Most importantly though, we saw it in Monday night’s loss against the Nuggets. Again.
The most painful part of these losses isn’t the fact that the team is losing. In fact, almost all of these heartbreaking games have come at the hands of a team that is higher than the Grizzlies in the standings. Memphis is an underdog in almost all of these.
It’s the way the Grizzlies are losing.
These Memphis Grizzlies losses feel completely avoidable
Every single one of these close-game losses has felt completely avoidable. The Grizzlies hold a lead for the entirety of the game, letting the opposing team hang around. Every time the opponent tries to take the lead, the Grizzlies will go on a run and hold their lead.
But for some reason, this stops near the end of the game. Rather than holding their lead when opponents go on a late-game run, the Grizzlies panic and ditch their offensive scheme. This almost always results in a longer run by the other team.
In fact, in the games where they continue to do their thing offensively, they’re able to separate — just look at their win against the Milwaukee Bucks.
That said, they haven’t done this consistently. Even worse — the issues feel like simple schematic problems at the end of these contests.