The Grizzlies beat the West-leading Denver Nuggets, 112-94, to improve to 25-5 at home this season.
Swag is what the Grizzlies had been missing as of late. Swag returned briefly on Thursday night against the Philadelphia 76ers, however the lack of late-game execution cost the team a game that it led up until the final seconds.
“The whole mentality, the last five, six weeks of the season, is just building to our best version of ourselves,” said Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins on the team getting their swagger back. “I think our guys have really embraced it day one in practice. I thought we had that mentality, thatswag, that trust. That’s a big word that we’ve been using recently.
Jenkins added, “What we’ve had to do to play our best basketball home and away, I thought we did that in Philly, it just didn’t bounce our way the last couple of minutes, but we put ourselves in a position to win a game there.”
“And then tonight, we came out with the same urgency, and I think we just clamped down on both sides. I thought the discipline… it starts with the mentality for sure when you go into games, but then I said our discipline from our game plan, execution defensively, has got to be on point, but then even offensively, knowing that they’re going to be a heavy shift team.”
“We scored 60 points in the paint, but we knocked down 15 threes – The ball movement, the energy, the trust on what we’ve got to do offensively was huge for us,” Jenkins concluded.
“So, just really proud of the guys. Four days, but as I said, it’s just continued growth one day at a time. Keep trusting the process to what we’ve got to do one day at a time to get better and responding.”
Bench Play
The Grizzlies bench has been missing in action as of late. On Saturday night, the bench put up 48 points.
Tyus Jones had been in a slump, but that changed against the Nuggets. Jones tallied 17 points and five assists off of 5 of 10 from the 3-point line tying a season-high with threes made.
Jones on breaking his slump, “I mean, it’s always good to see the ball go through the basket. But yeah, you just try not to get too high or get too low. You try to stay even-keeled. The season is so long. Like you said, I’ve had hot stretches, I’ve had cold slumps, and I know it comes and goes, but it’s always good to kind of break out of that and see the ball go through the basket. I had a good convo with coach this morning, but just been trusting my work. It’s part of the season, it’s part of the grind.”
Luke Kennard had his best game since his trade to the Grizzlies. Kennard finished with 12 points while converting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.
And Kennard completed a beautiful play started off by Morant. Take a look here:
Kennard comments after the win.
Call 12 and Rookie Dunker
Ja Morant led all scorers with 23 points, and added seven rebounds and four assists.
Some say it was a statement win but Morant was cautious knowing there are more games to played and to him it was “just another win.”
Morant described his magnificent play in the third period: “I pretty much just went to chase the rebound. We were all kind of under the rim when the shot went up. It was a long rebound, and there were times when we had our struggles. We didn’t get that rebound right there, so I pretty much just gave it my all, went and got the rebound. I kind of tapped it. We both were kind of going for it and once I got control, I just did a couple of dribble moves to actually make sure I have control over the ball. He kind of slipped, and I just attacked the rack. Once I got by that first defender, I felt the other one behind me, and I pretty much just used me being in front to an advantage. Kind of just stopped and jumped back. He bumped me in the back and after that, it was just a basic left-hand layup, finishing the play. So yeah, just one of those plays. I kind of yelled out there and got lightheaded, so I probably won’t do that again.”
Take a look at this spectacular play:
Xavier Tillman
Tillman ended the game with 12 points on 6-6 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists while holding the front-runner for NBA MVP Nikola Jokic to 16 points
Morant credited Tillman’s play since Steven Adams has been out due to injury. He said, “He’s been holding his own. Out there battling, giving it his all and playing very well on both of those guys who are two of the most dominant bigs in the game. A lot of credit goes to him for locking in, knowing what they want to get to and making everything tough for them.”
Tillman’s play earned him the walk-off interview.
Up Next
The Grizzlies will host the new look Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, February 28th at 6:30 pm CT.
