Beleaguered Grizzlies Limp into Oklahoma City After Loss to Wizards.

Colin Rafferty –

I had to take a day and process what happened on Saturday night. Your Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Washington Wizards 130-122.

There is no answer to it, and there is no way to make it sound better, they lost and it was a complete collapse coming out of the 1st half.

A 68-52 lead at half that was followed up with 27 points in both the third and fourth quarter, giving up 42 and 35 to the Wizards.

They truly can lose to anyone in this league, and yes there is a lot of injuries, another one was added as Brandon Clarke went down early with a right calf strain, but the team that rolled into Memphis on Saturday had 4 wins all year, you cannot lose to.

Santi Aldama had a career high 37 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. fouled out; his 5th foul came within minutes of the 3rd quarter starting.

The Grizzlies were outrebounded, had less assists, and had more turnovers. The Wizards were led by Grizz-killer CJ McCollum who had 28 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and Keyonte George who posted 28 pts, 7 reb, and 7 assists.

The Grizz had a lead in the first half, and they just plain blew it.

So now today they will have to respond with a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder tonight at 8:30 PM.

The Thunder are 25-3 and are coming off a loss to the Timberwolves on a last second shot by Anthony Edwards.

They are top 3 in team total offense, number 1 in team defense, and number 1 in point differential. They won the championship last year and just have continued to win.

They will be without Alex Caruso, noted Grizz killer, and Chet Holmgren tonight. A nice gesture by the Thunder to pull some guys for the beat and battered Beale St. Bears.

The Grizzlies will be without Ja Morant again. This injury list keeps growing as the year that is 2025 ends.

Brandon Clarke will be out for at least 3 weeks; the hits keep coming and they just don’t stop. He was looking good and even though not knocking down a lot of shots early, he was active and in on a lot of plays.

This is just terrible; he can’t seem to stay healthy and during a time they need him badly. He’s not Edey by any stretch, but he adds an element that is beneficial to the team, I hope he can be alright until the end of the year.

I wouldn’t hold my breath on that though.

Tonight is a game night and they better be ready, so they don’t get smacked around like young child smashing a toy into everything they can find because, well they can and they don’t know any better.

They will need a miracle and for the Thunder to come down with a team wide sickness for the Grizzlies to get a win tonight.

The Thunder will get every call, it won’t look pretty, and the Grizzlies will want to see Jaren Jackson Jr. continue his good shooting but be available for the entire game.

Santi will need to put up another 30 and the defense will have to make sure that the shots they do get are contested and not easy ones.

It is just not in the cards right now for the Grizz, but they haven’t played the game yet so maybe they can get lucky.

On a lighter note, Jaren Jackson Jr. was named this week’s Western Conference Player of the Week. Jalen Brunson was named for the East.

He has turned his play around, but Saturday’s performance was one that was frustrating and just plain bad. He has to clean up the bad fouls, I don’t care what you have to do, just stop it man.

The Grizzlies announced today they are signing Christian Koloko to a 10-day contract. Koloko is a 25-year-old 7’0” Center who has played with the Raptors and Lakers, he has appeared in 97 NBA games (19 starts) and 28 games (26 starts) in the NBA G League.

He is a defensive big man who played at Arizona before becoming a second-round draft pick in 2022.

I just hope he can stay healthy.

Tall task tonight.

“Hold on loosey but don’t let go. If you cling to tightly, you’re gonna lose control.”

Tip-off tonight is at 8:30 PM CST and can be found on NBC Peacock.