With 2 losses to Portland, the Grizzlies' season reaches a low point. Is that good or bad?
Even the oddsmakers thought the Memphis Grizzlies would end the losing streak.
They made them favorites at home on Friday night over the lowly Portland Trail Blazers, but that proved to be a mistake — the Blazers put 122 points on the Grizzlies and handed them a 30-point loss that coach Taylor Jenkins immediately called "embarrassing." They made them favorites again on Saturday night, but the Grizzlies lost once more. This time it was in a wildly different fashion, blowing an 18-point lead and collapsing down the stretch before falling in overtime to those same Blazers.
It means Memphis (20-41) has lost five in a row and is one step closer to the bottom of the NBA standings. In this lost season, and with these NBA Draft lottery rules, that's something that will no doubt be welcome news to an ever-growing section of the fan base.
"Offensively, defensively, we're working through things," Jenkins said after Saturday's loss. "Most of these guys haven't played together. Starting units, different lineups and all that. Love the fight. That's more like it."
It was certainly more like the rest of the season, which has featured lots of losing but mostly in a respectable fashion. Friday's loss and Monday's demolition at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets felt like anomalies, with Memphis usually hanging in games with more talented opponents before falling behind down the stretch.
That was exactly what happened Saturday night, but it was especially striking because the Blazers were missing most of their key players (Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Deandre Ayton and Malcolm Brogdon) and had lost nine in a row before they came to Memphis. Then Anfernee Simons turned into a human microwave in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 points while the Grizzlies had no one to match him on the other side.
"It's been happening, and it's been a theme," Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama said. "I just feel like, sure, defensively we weren't in there, but also offensively we were just stagnant. And they were very physical, credit to them. But I just felt like we were stuck. And it's been happening, and we just kind of stopped playing the game that had gotten us there, if that makes sense. So, yeah, I don't know. We've just got to figure out ways to keep playing. Sometimes teams slow down in the fourth. I just feel like we've got to find a way to keep playing at the same pace and with the same energy."
Aldama said he felt like Friday's loss was worse: "Today, I think we fought."
Forward Vince Williams Jr had a different answer: "Worse. We still lost."
You could probably argue for either one as the low point of the season. It might get lower still, what with the NBA's race to the bottom incentivizing teams with no shot at the playoffs to lose as many games as possible in search of more coveted pingpong balls in the NBA Draft lottery.
There's still a ways to go there. The Grizzlies are just ahead of Portland (17-42) in the standings, now by only two games. They're a game and a half behind (or, to most fans, ahead) of Toronto with the sixth-worst record in the NBA and with 21 games left in a lost season.
Memphis still has its own injury crisis to adjudicate. Ja Morant is out for the season, while Marcus Smart and Desmond Bane have been out for nearly two months. Brandon Clarke hasn't played all season. Jaren Jackson Jr., the one starter who's been consistently available this season, missed both games against Portland with right quad tendon soreness.
"It's not easy," Luke Kennard said. "We've got to find ways to be better. We've got to find ways to make more winning plays, and I think we did that tonight. Hopefully we can go back and look at a lot of things that we need to work on."
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Grizzlies' lost season reaches low point with two losses to Blazers
