With their 125-88 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday night, the Memphis Grizzlies have now lost half as many home games (five) this season as they did all of last year. More worrisome, though, is the way those losses have occurred.
The Grizzlies lay an egg when they play elite teams, and that’s a problem
The Grizzlies have now been blown out at home by the Cavaliers, Thunder, Warriors and Spurs. They haven’t even been competitive with the teams they aspire to beat.
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There was an embarrassing 40-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on opening night, a 16-point one a few weeks later to the Golden State Warriors, a 15-point defeat in late November at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks and a 30-point one to the San Antonio Spurs a week later. Add in that 119-69 debacle in early November on the road against the Warriors and a picture begins to form. Whenever the Grizzlies face quality opposition, they look thoroughly outclassed.
"Everybody should have their pride hurt from top to bottom," Marc Gasol said postgame Tuesday night, via the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
"We have to stop letting these games get out of hand," added Courtney Lee. "It's embarrassing. ... Is it us not competing and what not? To lose by that much at home is embarrassing."
Memphis is still a respectable 12-10, which puts it safely in the playoffs. They still have All Star caliber players like Marc Gasol and Mike Conley and have defeated some quality teams. The Grizzlies have registered wins over the Indiana Pacers, Dallas Mavericks and Thunder.
But those victories are the only ones which have come against winning teams. The rest have been over softies like the Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers and Phoenix Suns.
The problems start on defense. For years Memphis rode a physical style built around the brilliant interior play of Gasol and the swarming play of Conley and Tony Allen to 50+-win seasons and playoff berths.
That team has yet to show up this season. Instead, this year’s Grizzlies often look slow and uninterested. They allow shooters to spot up from deep, cutters to run at the rim and are surrendering nearly 104 points per 100 possessions, the sixth-worst number in the league. Last year, they gave up fewer than 100 points per 100 possessions, one of the NBA’s top marks.
Most teams try to take away both three-pointers and layups. Memphis gave Kevin Durant a choice between both.
Sometimes the back line, which is supposed to be the team’s strength, falls asleep.
The numbers are dreadful. Grizzlies opponents are connecting on 46 percent of their field goals and 37 percent of the 26 three-pointers per game they take. They’re getting to the foul line nearly 27 times per game. All those are bottom-six marks and major dropoffs from last season. The free throw attempts in particular stand out; last year, that number was 20.
This might hurt Grizzlies fans, but Allen, once the beloved heart and soul of Memphis’ Grit ‘N Grind, has been at the heart of these issues. He could never shoot from beyond four feet, but his tenacity on defense always made up for his lack of punch. That is no longer the case.
The nearly 34-year-old Allen is getting beat off the dribble more often. He's also prone to forgetting the scouting report on the players he's guarding. Statistically, Memphis is actually better on defense without Allen on the court, according to NBA.com's database.
In fact, the Grizzlies are better everywhere when Allen sits. It's not that he's the cause of the team's struggles, but his inability to shoot zaps Memphis' offensive spacing. It's no accident that the starting unit of Gasol, Zach Randolph, Allen, Conley and Jeff Green are being outscored by more than 23 points per 100 possessions, per NBA.com. They can't slow teams down and they certainly can't score with opponents ignoring Allen.
Look what happens in the play below. Conley, despite getting the slow-footed Steven Adams to switch onto him, has to settle for a mid-range jumper because Allen's man is camped out in the paint.
Plays like that are why Memphis is only scoring 98.9 points per 100 possessions, the league’s seventh-lowest number. Effort, as both Gasol and Lee mentioned, is clearly an issue, but Memphis’ problems have more to do with the team’s roster. The core, now up in age and minutes, can no longer lock down the way it used to consistently, and no one on the roster can consistently knock down shots from deep.
Of course, there's a difference between struggling every now and then and dropping games by 25 every week, which is likely why rumors about head coach Dave Joerger's job security have swirled. Maybe a change at the top would solve the Grizzlies' problems, or maybe it wouldn't. It's tough to say.
The bottom line, though, is that the Grizzlies need to actually show up ready to play every night to climb back into contention.
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