Grizzlies’ plan is working
Offseason strategy is working so well Grizzlies have a dilemma: How do they get better?
Once the 17-point lead had officially been squandered, once the Toronto Raptors kept hitting 3-pointers and Marc Gasol limped off the FedExForum court before the final buzzer sounded, Memphis Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff summed up his team’s 122-114 loss Tuesday night like this:
“Their style won the fight tonight,” he said.
So can the Grizzlies win the war?
Now that their plan is working, now that they’re competitive again with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, can the franchise make this year’s team better?
This question looms over the Grizzlies’ first three-game losing streak of this season, the first sign of real trouble since their season-opening dud at Indiana six weeks ago.
Because after the Grizzlies seemingly hit on every one of their offseason moves, this team is doing exactly what it set out to do.
It’s on track to finish outside the bottom eight of the league, so that the firstround draft pick traded to the Boston Celtics for Jeff Green in 2016 will finally be conveyed. It’s competing for a playoff spot in the loaded Western Conference.
It’s playing like the Grit ‘N Grind Grizzlies of earlier this decade, confounding the rest of the NBA by emphasizing defense when everyone else is thinking about offense, and slowing the pace when everyone else is speeding up.
But the Grizzlies’ brief ascension to the top of the Western Conference standings last week, combined with the three consecutive losses that followed, also presents a dilemma for the front office.
There are clear limitations with this group after 20 games, particularly after they entered the final five minutes of regulation with a chance to win during this recent skid.
“When you want to be a great team and play the way we do, you’re going to be in tight situations and it puts a lot of pressure on a lot of possessions, especially down the stretch,” Conley said Tuesday.
Indeed, they’ve wasted double-digit leads in two of the past three games because they’re prone to offensive droughts and haven’t figured out how to “keep that lead and step on their necks,” according to forward JaMychal Green.
They rely too heavily on Conley in
crunch time, and they seemingly play close games every night.
It’s why they’re capable of beating contenders like Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Denver and losing to tankers like New York and Phoenix.
It’s why Conley is currently averaging a career-high in minutes per game and Marc Gasol is playing more than he has since 2011-12.
It’s why everyone held their breath when Gasol came up limping late in Tuesday’s game because they are still one injury to him or Conley away from all this positive momentum disappearing.
They also can’t win when their defense falters at all, like it did when it gave up 35 points in the third quarter against the Knicks last Sunday night or when the Raptors shot 60.9 percent from the field. It’s why the 71 points Memphis scored in the first half Tuesday were more mirage than meaningful.
“It’s fun to shoot the ball and score and have fun that way and free and loose, but that’s not the way we’re going to win, at least consistently,” Gasol said Tuesday.
“You may get a win here or there, but if you want to win consistently and become a good team with the team that we have, the roster that we have right now, we definitely need to defend at a higher level than we did tonight.”
The phrase “right now” is perhaps the most interesting paradox confronting this team at the moment. With its salary cap flexibility zapped by the sunk cost of Chandler Parsons’ $94 million contract, what can the Grizzlies do right now to build upon this encouraging start?
They could wait to see if Parsons can ever contribute again, and perhaps contribute the way he once did before coming to Memphis. But we all know that’s unlikely to happen at this point.
They could wait to see if the expiring contracts of Green and Garrett Temple are enough to acquire another perimeter scorer to help ease the offensive burden off Conley and Gasol. But what would be the net gain if the team loses its best rebounder and best perimeter defender?
They could also simply just wait to see if the return of Dillon Brooks from a knee injury and the signing of Joakim Noah that’s reportedly in the works gives this roster the boost it will eventually need. That seems the most likely scenario.
Because for now, the Grizzlies are winning more fights than they lose. They’re doing exactly what they set out to do this offseason. They’re still a pleasant surprise despite a three-game losing streak.
“I think it’s a blip. I don’t think it’s who we are by any means,” Bickerstaff said. “There’s no reason to panic. We’ll be fine . ... It’s not like we’re out here getting our doors kicked in. We’re putting ourselves in position. We just have to finish.”