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  MikeCheck: Grizz need late-season continuity

  With a dozen games left in the regular season, the Grizzlies are still pursuing an elusive component that has evaded them all season: continuity.

  How much of a serious challenge that presents in the playoffs is anyone’s guess.

  What’s known is that rolling out a consistent lineup on a nightly basis is a major challenge for almost every NBA contender these days. The Grizzlies aren’t alone.

  

  Yet, that reality doesn’t make the circumstances any more comforting.

  “We’ve been a resilient team all season; that’s just been part of this team’s journey,” coach Taylor Jenkins repeatedly says of the Grizzlies, who continue their five-game trip with Friday’s matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers. “But there has to be an urgency that we play with on both sides of the floor. The challenge now is can we take this (mentality) out on the road for the last (extended) road trip of the season?”

  That’s a big question that can only be answered by results.

  And those results have been mixed recently as the Grizzlies juggle a desire to reach ideal chemistry and rhythm ahead of the playoffs with a need to manage player recovery and health.

  

  They now press forward shorthanded on a trip that grows increasingly more difficult. After witnessing the best performance of Ja Morant’s season with last Friday’s 44-point effort in a home loss to the Cavaliers, we haven’t seen him in action since.

  Morant missed his third consecutive game in Wednesday’s 115-99 loss at Portland as he nurses hamstring soreness. He had also been managing shoulder soreness that limited his availability.

  The hamstring issue with Morant surfaced just as the Grizzlies were boosted by Jaren Jackson Jr.’s return from a five-game absence to recover from a Grade 2 ankle sprain. In his four games back, Jackson has shown both flashes of peak dominance from earlier in the season as well as signs of working through some rust.

  “I don’t think it’ll take me long,” Jackson insisted. “It starts with just winning in situations when I’m out there. I’ve got to go out there and try to make an impact so we can win more games.”

  

  What we know about the Grizzlies is that they’re one of the NBA’s more dominant teams when whole. Morant, Jackson and Desmond Bane have each scored 40-plus points in a game over the past three weeks when at least one member of the trio was unavailable or limited in action.

  The Grizzlies went 0-3 in those games.

  But the issue is that this season hasn’t featured many opportunities for the Grizzlies’ Big 3 to collectively lead the way. Morant, Jackson and Bane have played just 30 of a possible 70 games together so far this season. Add productive sixth-man Santi Aldama to the equation, and Memphis has only seen those four players in action in the same game just 22 times this season.

  Hopefully, the Grizzlies can catch a break over these final 12 games and find chemistry that’s been tough to come by much of this season. But they aren’t alone. Just look around the league.

  The Thunder were without three starters, including MVP favorite Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday. The Lakers have been without LeBron James the past two weeks with a groin strain. Donovan Mitchell has been held out by the Cavaliers with his own groin strain.

  

  Not even coaches can escape the wrath of a relentless NBA season. Clippers coach Ty Lue missed a game this week with back soreness. Lue has missed four games this month with the same issue, and his status for Friday’s game against the Grizzlies is unclear. Recent injuries have stalled almost everyone’s recent progress, including the Grizzlies.

  “We’re just trying to get wins at this point,” Morant has said. “We’ve just got to get back to it, man.”

  Getting back to health and availability would go a long way for the Grizzlies in the short time they have left to generate continuity and momentum as the playoffs loom.

  Michael Wallace
  Published on Mar 20, 2025

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