1. The Memphis Grizzlies were fresh off of a tight back-to-back
Last night, the Grizzlies defeated the Houston Rockets 129-122 in a game that was close until the very end.
Every single Grizzlies starter played 30+ minutes, and Ja Morant dropped an astonishing 49 points in 31 minutes. This had to have taken a lot out of the Grizzlies’ star point guard, so he probably didn’t have the most energy in the world to play the next night in a different city.
Putting that in mind, and also adding the fact that the Mavericks haven’t played a game since Wednesday, it would make sense that the Grizzlies may come out a little bit dead. This was also the Mavericks’ home opener, so they were definitely going to come out with extra energy.
This is not an excuse for the Grizzlies to have a performance as poor as this, but Grizzlies fans should not panic since this was our first back-to-back of the season and we have a rotation filled with multiple first and second-year players who are not adjusted to the grind of the NBA just yet.