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  MikeCheck: Grizzlies seek to regain footing amid ‘rough patch’ to close turbulent December

  MEMPHIS – When adversity strikes, the soundbites tend to shrink.

  From the top, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins knows the proper response in times like these requires more specific action and fewer strategic words. That might best explain Jenkins’ mindset when he met with the media following his team’s fourth loss in the past five games.

  

  “We’ve just got to play better,” Jenkins responded. “All of us.”

  Even for the NBA’s best teams, the ebb and flow of a season tends to deliver some drastic turns. And the Grizzlies are smack dab in the middle of one right now. After ascending to first place in the Western Conference two weeks ago on the heels of a season-best, seven-game winning streak, Memphis has since gone 1-4 in its worst stretch to slip to third in the standings.

  The process of taking inventory didn’t require much time after the Grizzlies saw their seven-game home winning streak end with Tuesday’s 125-108 loss to the Suns. That setback came four days after the Grizzlies delivered a 25-point beating on the Suns in Phoenix last week.

  The month of December has seen a turbulent stretch of up-and-down play for the Grizzlies. The highs have featured impressive-to-dominant victories over Philadelphia, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta and Milwaukee. And the lows have included lethargic-to-lopsided losses to Oklahoma City, Denver, the Christmas Day showcase game at Golden State and the rematch loss to Phoenix.

  “We’ve gotta make some more shots, but we definitely can’t allow that to impact our defensive urgency. A couple of games here, we’ve been struggling. But we just have to keep putting in the work. That’s all we can control.”

  Jenkins was asked in the aftermath of the latest loss if his team was possibly still reeling from an emotional letdown on Christmas.

  “We were struggling even before we went into that (Golden State) game,” Jenkins said. “It was the OKC game, the Denver game. We’re just having a rough patch. In four of the past five games, we haven’t lived up to the standard and played as we’re capable of (playing).”

  The two main culprits contributing to the recent struggles continue to be the Grizzlies’ inability to dominate inside the paint as well as troubles defending the three-point line. In the past five games, Memphis has been outrebounded overall, and has allowed opponents to shoot 40.1-percent on threes while averaging 27.1 assists per game. 

  

  When Memphis is operating at its best, it has proven to be a team that ranks among the top five in the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The Grizzlies had been among the NBA’s leaders in points in the paint, rebounding, scoring and points off turnovers.

  To put it simply, there has been slippage defensively and the Grizzlies are mired in a lethal shooting slump. They have missed 122 of their past 163 shots from beyond the arc.

  “We’ve gotta make some more shots, but we definitely can’t allow that to impact our defensive urgency,” Jenkins lamented. “A couple of games here, we’ve been struggling. But we just have to keep putting in the work. That’s all we can control.”

  The irony is that the Grizzlies have hit their toughest slide at a time when their primary rotation is healthy for the first time this season. They’re essentially complete, but hardly a finished product. The preferred starting group of Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Dillon Brooks, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Steven Adams has started the past three games.

  

  Bane, however, has struggled to find his shooting touch in his initial games back after missing five weeks with a toe injury. Bane emerged as one of the NBA’s breakout stars in his first 12 games of the season, averaging 24.7 points and shooting 45.1-percent on threes.

  But in his first three games back from injury, Bane is averaging 13.3 points and has missed 17 of 19 attempts from beyond the arc as he tries to reestablish chemistry with the starting unit.

  “It’s going to be a process, knowing that before now I hadn’t played basketball in a month,” Bane said of working his way back into form. “I’ll definitely get back to being that player that I was before, and even improving on that. It’s just going to take some time, but I’ll get there.”

  We don’t fear anybody, and we have a different type of swag to us . . . but ultimately, we all humble each other, and we do it in-house. We have to be ready each and every game because now we’ve got that target on our backs.

  The coaching staff and players feel they’re getting the looks they desire on offense, but just haven’t been able to regularly knock down open shots. Again, these stretches tend to come and go with the ebb and flow of every NBA season.

  That’s why the Grizzlies aren’t exactly panicking about the current issues. They’re committed to taking a step back to examine the problems and to address what corrections are needed. The next opportunity to respond comes with Thursday’s game at Toronto before they return to FedExForum for a New Year’s Eve showdown against the Pelicans.

  December has brought out the best and worst in the Grizzlies. Now, they’re working to level out and regain the grit that guided them through the month’s initial dominant stretches. 

  

  “We don’t fear anybody, and we have a different type of swag to us . . . but ultimately, we all humble each other, and we do it in-house,” Brooks said of getting back on track. “We have to be ready each and every game because now we’ve got that target on our backs.”

  Opponents are definitely taking aim.

  That comes with the territory when a team rises to the top of the standings.

  Michael Wallace
  Published on Dec 28, 2022

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