1. Limping Into the Break: After starting the season 1-8, the Grizzlies are entering the All-Star break on a bad 1-6 stretch. What is this team’s real level of ability? The 2-14 bookends or that 24-9 stretch in the middle? Those options are so stark that it’s pretty clearly somewhere in the middle.
Even when this team was playing its very best, reasonable fans knew that potential injury, likely fatigue, a weak bench, and the deep field of good teams in the Western Conference would all work against the team’s rather unlikely run at a playoff birth. The Grizzlies remain lucky on the injury front, but the rest of those concerns are all a factor in the team’s recent slide from 7th to 11th in the conference standings.
I’ll get into this in more detail in a post-All-Star-break preview post, but for the Grizzlies to remain a factor in the playoff race, they’re going to need to get back on track in a hurry coming out of the break. With five of eight April games roadies against likely playoff teams, the Grizzlies probably need a cushion going into the final month. The rest of the February/March schedule is relatively favorable, but if the team can’t relocate than December/January mojo it won’t matter.
