Down but by no means out, the Memphis Grizzlies dropped their fourth consecutive game of the season to the Dallas Mavericks.
The final score was 125-110 but it doesn’t tell the whole story. There are no moral victories, but fans can still look to some positive points even in a loss. When Memphis was down by 14 heading into the fourth quarter, their starters continued to play hard and even managed to cut the lead down to four before a seven-point Dallas run put the Mavericks up by double-digits again.
Dallas has a star in Luka Doncic, and true to form he put up a game-high 35 points, including going 6 of 12 from beyond the three-point line. But the Mavericks also have a host of players who can knock down the long ball and their 23 made threes reflect that. They also got a massive 39-point boost from their bench, 21 points of which came from Tim Hardaway Jr.
By contrast, the Grizzlies’ second unit put up a whopping 13 points, and no that wasn’t a typo. Even as shorthanded as the team is currently, the struggles of the bench players need to be addressed. The team is without Ja Morant for another 21 games and Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke are both slated to miss the entire season; however, the short-term losses of Santi Aldama (suffering from a sprained right ankle) and Luke Kennard (concussion protocol) are hindering the Grizzlies’ ability to compensate for their other missing players.
Desmond Bane put up his second 30-point game in four games this season, shooting 3 of 7 from three and 12 of 17 overall. After the game he was asked about how he motivates his teammates. His response was “when you go down 14 [points] in the fourth quarter, you have one of two options. You can either lay down or keep fighting. I thought we responded well after that timeout and were able to cut the lead down shortly after. There’s no quit in this team. I’m proud of the way we battled, and sooner or later, it’s going to pay off.”
Bane also had some words of wisdom regarding the rough start to the season. “We’ve lost seven or eight in a row in the past but never at the beginning of the season. It doesn’t get as much publicity or get talked about nearly as much, but we’ve been in similar situations, and we’ve always found a way to come out of it and be better because of it. Adversity, when in it, always seems like a bad thing, but once you get through it, you become stronger, and it will only help us in the long run.”
Jaren Jackson Jr also had a 30-point night, a season-high, along with 9 rebounds and two blocks.
But perhaps the most promising performance came from Marcus Smart who finished the night with a season-high 23 points, 5 rebounds, a team-high 9 assists, and 3 steals.
Smart was the big free agent pickup over the summer and seeing him adjust to the Grizzlies’ style of play should be a salve on the 0-4 start to the season.
Who Got Next?
The Grizzlies are hitting the road for their next three games, and the first stop will be in Salt Lake City to face off against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, November 1st. Tip-off will be at 8 PM CST.
