With a final score of 102-100, the Memphis Grizzlies put up a hell of a fight against the Boston Celtics, the current top team in the league. They have been playing shorthanded all season long, were on the second night of back-to-back games, and by all accounts had no business making the game as close as it was.
The Celtics are a team the Grizzlies have long struggled against. Memphis has had just two wins over Boston since January 2016 and are 19-36 in the 55 regular season meetings between the teams. Anyone with any sense watching the Grizzlies this season had this matchup against the Celtics as a scheduled loss, but Memphis fans should feel good about the effort made.
“Take it every day of the week” was how head coach Taylor Jenkins described the Grizzlies’ effort postgame. They got a career night from Santi Aldama, who played multiple positions throughout the game due to foul trouble on Bismack Biyombo and Jaren Jackson Jr.
Aldama finished the night with a career-high 28 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and two steals, including 6 made three-pointers.
Jenkins was effusive in his praise of Aldama postgame: “He’s got so much versatility, just really proud of the offensive effort tonight. We needed that. It didn’t matter what his position was. He started at the three, slid to the four. I think with our second unit, he had to play some [at the] five, and he can be a playmaker for us. … The aggressiveness, especially from the 3-point line, is something he’s been working a lot on since the start of the season … Just really impressed with how he really was in attack-mode tonight.”
Desmond Bane closed out the night with a game-high 30 points and 8 assists, while shooting 7 of 14 from beyond the arc. Jaren Jackson Jr was the only other Memphis player to score in double digits, with 17 points and 8 rebounds.
Holding the number-one offense in the NBA to just over 100 points is wild, and the fact that they did it being wildly shorthanded and exhausted from the previous night’s matchup against the Spurs was superhero-level defense.
This is a better team than their current record depicts, they just need to stay the course until the return of Ja Morant. Just 12 more games until we get 12 back.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies will be hitting the road to face off against the Houston Rockets and former Grizzly Dillon Brooks on Wednesday, November 22. Tip-off is at 7 PM CST.
