Grizzlies stunned Golden State on MLK Day and showed why season still matters | Giannotto

Jaren Jackson Jr. sat at his locker and began to tell Jacob Gilyard a story involving Stephen Curry that he didn’t want GG Jackson to know yet

It happened during the first half of the most unlikely home win of this unfortunate Memphis Grizzlies season, a 116-107 MLK Day game stunner over the Golden State Warriors, after which GG Jackson (no relation) went viral because his mouth went agape upon hearing Shaquille O’Neal’s voice during a TNT interview.

Curry waited at the scorer’s table in the second quarter, once GG Jackson hit his third 3-pointer in a matter of minutes. Jaren Jackson Jr. noticed Curry give a very specific look. He contorted his face to recreate it for Gilyard. He interpreted it as respect.

“It was like, ‘Damn,’ ” Jaren said, and then he laughed.

GG Jackson was coming back from his postgame press conference.

“I’m gonna go tell him about it now," Jaren said.

The 22nd MLK Day game in franchise history was setting up to be a strange one, and the Grizzlies instead turned it into a showcase for why the rest of this season still matters.

Ja Morant was on the bench wearing a sling. Desmond Bane was on the bench, on crutches and in a walking boot. Marcus Smart was on the bench with a modified splint on his right ring finger. All of that carnage had been accumulated in less than 10 days, a deflating sequence of injuries that felt convincing enough to definitively declare this a lost year, or a gap year, or whatever phrase describes a season that went unimaginably (but temporarily) off the rails.

And then it snowed.

So one of the marquee games on the schedule before the season became a $10 ticket for Draymond Green’s return from suspension.

What a bargain, then, that it was actually a chance to see Golden State's aging core exposed by career-best games from Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson, the newest best candidates to provide stability on the wing for the Grizzlies -- a potential development that would make what's gone wrong this season feel more worth it.

“Very good for the soul," Xavier Tillman Sr. said.

The crowd, for what it lacked in size, embraced that vibe. By booing Green relentlessly.

When he first took the court. When he entered the game for the first time after in more than a month after striking Phoenix Suns center Jusef Nurkic. Whenever he touched the ball, Grizzlies fans treated him like this was the 2022 NBA playoffs all over again.

And, according to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, that could be really important as Memphis navigates through the rest of this season.

Not the actual boos, of course. But the engagement that they represent.

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Golden State went through one of these lost seasons not long ago. The Warriors had the worst record in the league after a wave of injuries in 2019-20, most notably to Curry and Klay Thompson. But Kerr insisted Monday he saw value in it looking back, particularly in the wake of Golden State’s championship two years ago. Those injuries and those games gave Jordan Poole minutes he would have never gotten and “that year helped him win us a title,” Kerr said.

A title feels a long ways off for the Grizzlies, but a similar dynamic exists for Jackson and Williams in Memphis.

“I would have preferred not to go through it. Let’s make that clear,” Kerr said. “But it was important in that … it helped me realize the most important time to lean into your culture, your values, however you want to describe it, is when you’re struggling. When you’re winning, everybody’s happy. When you’re struggling, you have to find a vibe. You have to find a rhythm to the season, where it can’t be everyone’s showing up to the gym with their heads hanging. You’ve got to find spirit, energy and joy within the frustration.”So the sounds and images from this MLK Day are worth storing up for later, as demoralizing as the past few months have been.

There was coach Taylor Jenkins calling this not just a good win for the Grizzlies, but a good win for the G League’s Memphis Hustle. There was Morant on the bench, according to Gilyard, reminding teammates how badly he still wanted to beat Golden State because of the recent history between the two teams. There was Curry, seeking out GG Jackson after the game for a few encouraging words.

There was everyone, despite the sprains and slings and shoulders and splints that sent this Grizzlies’ season off course, standing in those closing seconds Monday and staying to celebrate with a couple teammates who they were just getting to know. You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on X: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Draymond Green return: Memphis Grizzlies stun Golden State on MLK day