Grizzlies Get Spurred.

Colin Rafferty –

Last night your Memphis Grizzlies played 45 minutes of basketball and then fell apart. A difficult 101-111 loss to the San Antonio Spurs and the Grizz are now 4-11.

The game was highlighted by De’Aaron Fox’s 26-point night and Harrison Barnes’ 25 pts, 5 rebs, and 3 assist night; 7 of those came in the final 3 minutes, pushing the Spurs past the Grizz, when it was 101-102.

The game overall wasn’t bad; they just didn’t finish. It has become Groundhog’s Day watching this team. Play just good enough to be in some games and then fall out right at the end.

I will give it up to the NBC broadcasting crew last night, they did a great job of talking about guys that usually wouldn’t get the spotlight.

All in all, this is probably how the games will continue to go from here on out with the guard depth of this team being in shambles right now.

Despite the loss, we probably saw the best game out of Vince Williams Jr. we have seen in some time. He finished with 14 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds.

Cedric Coward led the Grizz with 19 pts and 11 reb, Jaren Jackson Jr had 18 pts, 6 reb, 3 assists, and Cam Spencer added 15 pts off the bench. Coming up short once again after a pretty decent performance from a lot of guys.

This is now back-to-back games where the Grizz have had an opportunity to win and let it slip right through their fingers.

Zach Edey, who is still on a minutes restriction, added 8 pts, 11 reb, and 2 assists. He looked good until the end, he said after the game, “my wind kind of caught up to me in that game.”

It’s true, he came up short on a shot in the paint with about 1:11 left. The score would’ve been 103-104; instead after the missed shot, Harrison Barnes buried a 3-pointer to push the lead up to 6, 107-101 with under a minute left.

The Grizzlies are now 1-19, under head coach Toumas Iisalo, against teams that have a .500 record or better. He has had some poor luck with injuries, I’ll give him that, but his substitutions and when they are implemented are still a question for me.

Too many times, guys will get hot then get pulled; or conversely, leaving guys out there that aren’t contributing until it is too late to call a timeout. I don’t want to sound like I know better, but something doesn’t look right.

Maybe it’s the squad itself, there aren’t a lot of great NBA players on this roster at the moment, some solid players but not GREAT.

Jaylen has continued his poor shooting, it will come back at some point, Landale proves again and again that he is outmatched, and KCP who was supposed to bring some veteran leadership has fallen out of the starting five and is now limited in the amount of time he gets.

The train has left the station and the tracks aren’t finished; it’s been a bumpy ride so far. The Grizz will need a John Henry type performance to get themselves out of this hole.

Grizzlies will be back home tomorrow for a game against the Sacramento Kings, who are 3-11 on the year.

Good, maybe this is just what the doctor order.