The Memphis Grizzlies are now winners of two consecutive games for the first time since they had a four-game winning streak from January 30th to February 5th. Their two wins came on the road at Dallas and New Orleans after a season-high four-game losing streak, with all the losses happening at home.
They have a four-game homestand that begins tonight against the Phoenix Suns, who was the last team they defeated at home in overtime on February 25th. That game, a 151-148 victory by the Grizzlies, represented the NBA's highest combined scoring game (299) this season and was the Grizzlies' third time beating the Suns in three tries this season.
Both teams enter tonight's battle on the second night of a back-to-back with the Suns coming off a victory at the Dallas Mavericks yesterday afternoon. While the Grizzlies have an opportunity to sweep the season series versus the Suns and snap a four-game home losing streak, the new power rankings differed with their perception of the team's current status.
NBA.com: 10th
The Grizzlies avoided falling out of the top 10 as John Schuhmann of NBA.com listed them at number 10 in this week's edition, falling from their ranking of eight the last two weeks. The seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves have used a five-game winning streak to jump both the Grizzlies and Houston Rockets, who currently reside in the fourth and fifth seeds, respectively.
Their loss of Jaren Jackson Jr. last Monday has hurt the Grizzlies on the defensive end of the court as the team allows 113.7 points per 100 possessions with him off the court. That number decreases by 6.4 points when he is on the court, and he remains out tonight against the Suns with a grade 2 ankle sprain.
Memphis has work to do to capture their pre-All-Star break magic but Jackson Jr. is expected to return soon and Ja Morant has produced back-to-back 30-point games in their two wins over the weekend. Morant and Bane have combined to score 120 points over their last two games, so expect that trend to continue as they combined to score 54 points in their last game against the Phoenix Suns.
ClutchPoints: 6th
Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints was a little more lenient of the Grizzlies' recent struggles as he rose them up one spot from seventh to sixth in their new power rankings. However, he did caution that the team could be in trouble with the status of Jaren Jackson Jr. being week-to-week and Ja Morant admitting to playing through a shoulder injury.
The Grizzlies are 4-6 in their 10 games since returning from the All-Star break but find themselves only trailing the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets by one game for the West's two seed. Despite their recent slide, they are in a position to still achieve their goals for the season and Jackson Jr. isn't expected out long.