Grizzlies can't complete comeback effort, lose to Pelicans
The Grizzlies show fight in the second half, but their comeback efforts didn't translate to a win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Memphis Grizzlies returned home after a quick trip to Charlotte, as they’re facing the Pelicans in their 1st game of a 3-game homestand before the All-Star break. In pregame, Taylor Jenkins announced that GG Jackson was inactive for a violation of a team policy, but would return against Houston Wednesday. No further details were provided. On a brighter note, the NBA announced that Vince Williams Jr. would replace Dyson Daniels in Friday night’s Rising Stars game All-Star weekend.
The Grizzlies started the game strong with a 16-8 run. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Vince Williams Jr. ignited the offense, while Scotty Pippen Jr. fueling the defense with his menacing playmaking. Recent trade deadline acquisitions Yuta Watanabe and Lamar Stevens made their debut — re-debut, in the former’s case. The Pelicans closed the gap with hot shooting to end the quarter with a 31-26 lead.
While the Grizzlies couldn’t regain the lead, Pippen and Stevens made plays to try to come back. However, sloppiness and turnovers led to surrendering a 17-0 run in the quarter, as they were down 61-47 at halftime.
The Grizzlies started the 2nd half poorly, as it looked like the Pelicans were going to coast through the rest of the game. However, the Grizzlies chipped away at the lead with good energy — credit to the new guys (Stevens, Watanabe, and Trey Jemison). They closed the quarter on a 17-5 run to trim the 3rd quarter deficit to 13 (86-73).
The Grizzlies shaved the lead into single digits in the 4th quarter, as their strong play carried over from the prior period. Their offense stalled out a bit, but they managed to get the stops necessary to avoid falling further behind. A behind-the-back dish from Santi Aldama to Jaren Jackson Jr. set up an easy dunk to cut the deficit to 5 with roughly 3 minutes to go.
The Grizzlies couldn’t complete the comeback efforts, falling to the Pelicans 96-87, as it’s now their 9th loss in a row.
Core 4 things
Yuta Watanabe re-debut. Yuta Watanabe is back with the Memphis Grizzlies after the 3-team trade at the deadline. It was a bag of mixed results. It was evident he was playing through some nerves to start, as he pressed on a lot of plays and shots. However, he flipped a switch in the 2nd half. He made solid plays off the dribble and hustled defensively. He could’ve hit more outside shots (1-7 from 3), but he had clean looks. All in all, it wasn’t a bad performance for Watanabe, but served as a reminder that he’s someone that’s going to play hard all 48 minutes.
Lamar Steven impression. To be quite real, I was unfamiliar with Lamar Stevens’ game. His scoring will stand out the most, as he was one of the only players with a semblance of rim pressure this game — flashing a sweet (even forced) mid-range game. More impressively, he leveraged his physicality well when defending Zion Williamson off the drive. He was another player whose energy served as a catalyst in the 2nd half run.
Trey Jemison played to his strengths. Trey Jemison had a tall task handling a lot of minutes against Jonas Valanciunas, and he thrived. After the game, Taylor Jenkins and Jaren Jackson Jr. praised his individual defense, as they decided to let Jemison handle Valanciunas 1-on-1 without sending help. His energy was infectious — flying around the rim for contests, rebounds, and dunks. He finished with a team-best +12 plus/minus in 18 minutes in arguably his best showing of the season.
Sluggish end to the season, but they’ll fight. Given all these injuries, it’s going to be a sluggish end to the season. There will be droughts where it feels like nothing is going right. However, what’s important is their fight, as they clawed their way back into the game. Ultimately, it didn’t pay off in this one, and hopefully it’ll pay dividends soon. It’s nice to see that they’re not rolling over though.
The Grizzlies are back in action tomorrow night against the Houston Rockets.