The Memphis Grizzlies set a franchise record with nine straight wins after defeating the Los Angeles Lakers, 127-119 on Sunday night.
Acting head coach Brad Jones is 3-0 this season. Jones took the reins as Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins is out due to health and safety protocols.
After the win, Jones talked about the winning streak. He said, “I don’t think we’ve talked to the guys about that at all, but then they told us right before we went into the locker room. We told them we made history tonight, so they were pretty excited about that. The streak has been fabulous just because of all the variables that’s been into it.”
“With the Covid, we’ve had injuries, guys in and out of the lineup, it’s a whole group effort from the top all the way down to the bottom. We’ve just stayed consistent, and we play basketball no matter who’s out there. It’s been fun, it’s been real fun. Congratulations, and then one other big monument tonight is Taylor Jenkins’ 100th win. He’s in his room at the Ritz over there in quarantine, but we also had him on Zoom to celebrate with him over there. It’s exciting for him in what he’s been able to accomplish in a short two and a half years here.”
Steven Adams is also out due to health and safety protocols and a lot has been put on Jaren Jackson Jr.’s shoulders. JJJ was up for the challenge against both the Clippers and the Lakers.
He credits Adams for his improved play.
“I think our commitment to our defensive end,” Jackson Jr. said. “Our commitment to each other, how we’ve grown together for a longtime actually. It’s been a long time coming. We did a lot of work to get to this point where we just have cohesion. We’re all on the same page; we know what’s expected of us out there. Every single one of each other’s goals is our own so we just strive for that. We strive for everybody’s success.”
Jackson Jr. continued, “We wanted to make sure we focus on the key guys that are out there who are going to score the ball. [AnthonyDavis] hasn’t been back for a while so obviously that helps; he’s a great player but we know where the ball is going to at times. We know who is going to look to be more aggressive. They’re playing [LeBron James] at the five some so it just changes how we play, but we play with the same effort. It helps.”
The Michigan State alum arguably had his best game of the season on both ends of the floor with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and six block shots. Since Pau Gasol in 2007, Jackson Jr. became the only player in team history to have five or more blocks in a row.
Take a look at the 22-year-old’s block party.
“Well, I want to credit Memphis first, they played great,” said Lakers head coach Frank Vogel after the game. “They’ve been playing great. One of the hottest teams in the league. Not having [Steven] Adams out there, obviously he’s a big part of what they do but they get a little faster and a little more spread out. A little more difficult to guard in some ways. We had trouble getting back from transition and I thought this was one of those games where we let a lot of misses of the basket affect our defensive focus. We weren’t scoring. We lost focus of what we were supposed to be doing on the defensive side. That can’t happen. Obviously, that was the big reason they built a big lead.”
He added, “and credit Memphis’ defense; they’re a good defensive team, they forced a lot of turnovers. We were just a little out of sync.”
The Block
There are Ja Morant highlights and then there are Ja Morant “WTF and do you believe what we just witnessed moments.”
LeBron James was amazed by the block. “It starts with timing — just stalking your prey and that’s exactly what Ja was doing that whole play and I saw it happening,” James said. “I didn’t know he was going to do it in that fashion, but he has rockets in his calf muscles. It was a spectacular play. It was a great play. Salute.”
That is surely one way to describe it, rockets in his calf muscles for sure.
His teammate was in awe as well. “That was probably the best block I’ve ever seen live,” Jackson Jr. said. “Probably the best I’ve ever seen, period. But definitely the best block I’ve ever seen live; that was crazy. I knew he was going to do it too because he always loads up before; I just saw him before load up, I knew he was going to get it I just didn’t know how high he was going to have to jump. It was crazy. I think he jumped higher than he did on the lob. His head was at the top of the square.”
Morant recounted his awesome play after the game. “First start with the turnover,” Morant recalled. “It was a bad mistake on my part. Obviously, the game had been going on for a while, so I should’ve recognized they were doubling and blitzing me to get out of the ball quicker. I just got careless with the ball. Avery Bradley got a deflection and went on the break. I just got back and made an incredible play, but I was just trying to gather the ball. Most times on a break like that, if you block it, they might have a player trailing to get the ball and lay it up. I was trying to block the shot, stop him from scoring and secure the ball at the same time and it worked out for me. Now I’m probably all over the Internet for it.”
Yep, that block is still being talked about and it probably will help Morant to become a starter in the NBA All-Star game.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies look for their 10th straight victory on Tuesday, January 11th as they host Klay Thompson and the Golden State Warriors inside the FedExForum at 7 p.m. CT.
