Zombie Grizz Grab Win Over Kings.

Colin Rafferty –

Your Memphis Grizzlies outmanned, undersized, and what seemed to be outmatched went into the Golden 1 Arena and showed heart and resiliency as they beat the Sacramento Kings, 129-125.

A nice win for the boys off Beale, as they wrestle with the trade deadline that ends today at 2 PM CST.

Sure, if you want to get a higher draft pick this isn’t a great game to win, but the NBA is an entertainment league, and the Grizzlies were entertaining last night.

I understand the logistics of the business, but when that ball gets tipped, I want them to win every time.

A precarious situation indeed, but without a true center and nobody from the Jaren trade with the team yet, they just went out there and played basketball.

Shooting a cool 50% from the field and 44% from three, the Grizz were running up and down the court, taking care of the ball, and getting out in transition. They were, as expected, dominated in the paint, but were able to corral enough rebounds and force some bad possessions out of the Kings.

They played passing lanes and capitalized on turnovers with either a quick bucket or a possession that saw a good look, most of which were falling last night.

Ty Jerome, you dog, over the 3 games he has played he is averaging 22.3 pts, 2.7 rebounds, and 7.0 assists. He is playing hard on only about 20 minutes a game and has control over the offense like he has been playing all year.

Jerome finished the night with 28 pts and 7 assists in 21 minutes of play. Cam Spencer added 20 pts and 5 assists; he was clutch down the stretch scoring 10 in the fourth.

Jaylen Wells, who is from the Sacramento area, showed out once again in the California capital city, putting up 18 pts. GG Jackson had 16 pts and 7 rebounds as he continues to show great bounce off the dribble and a sweet ability to get to the rim.

His move to go up with the ball as he controls it for a gather, is one that is hard to guard and confusing for the player defending, as it looks like he is losing control, only to have him stop and pull it back up once he gets to his spot.

Santi Aldama gave good minutes posting 12 pts and 6 rebounds, as he was dealing with a leg injury that had sidelined him for a couple of games. Cedric Coward didn’t have a great game and was constantly getting weird foul calls on him.

At least twice in the game he was struck by an elbow from Demar DeRozan and was called for a foul, one was clearly not a foul. He was sliding with DeRozan, was straight up, and didn’t initiate contact and was whistled for the call, Ced threw his head back in disgust.

He just couldn’t quite get it together last night but was still a +11 for the game. He finished with 5 pts, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.

I will never accept going into a game and saying, “well I hope we lose,” that just isn’t in my nature. At this point, why not get to .500 and get into the play-in, I get it draft picks yadda yadda, but you are taking a gamble, who knows what these guys coming out of college will do.

Maybe it’s greatness, maybe not, all I know is that if they were to get healthy, a couple of playoff games would be great for the city.

Sure, you would be looking down the barrel of an OKC or San Antonio, but still people will rejoice in the idea that the Grizzlies finished a tough season with some extra games.

If the trade value for Morant isn’t there, why not punt till the offseason, if they were able to get into the play-in and then playoffs, his trade value would skyrocket, at this point it sounds like he is getting shipped off for a bag of peanuts. That’s just unacceptable, I don’t care how much of a pain he has been, once he leaves, he will probably play well, and everybody will forget all the mean stuff they said about him while at Memphis.

Just take note of how the talking heads turn on him, when and if he is traded today. They will talk about how much a change of scenery will do him good, the Grizzlies are a bad organization, the city rubbed off on him, all the b.s. that Memphians have to deal with from people who don’t know the Rendezvous from Central BBQ.

These are the same people that will float out ideas of moving the team because they are in one of the smaller markets in the league.

It seems unlikely, but I would like to see Ja stay for the rest of the year, maybe pull his value up, maybe it falls apart, but trading him for a second-round pick in 2028 and a player that would probably get waived feels weak.

But maybe that’s what they want to do, just get him out of town.

There will be several reports and thoughts that arise as the trade deadline gets closer today, but until the team announces something just be careful to believe anything Shams Charania says.

He has constantly said things that are just not reports, and he has double and quadrupled down on things like the Giannis trade takes that have had little to no traction.

Hell, even Adam Schefter, ESPN’s senior NFL reporter, was dropping in on the NBA trade deadline last night. How is that possible for the NFL guy to take an NBA scoop.

I digress, the Grizzlies won and if that is a bad thing, fine. I like watching them play with heart and effort, if that turns into wins so be it, but I will not sit there and watch an entire game cheering for a loss. It just doesn’t sit right with me.

Maybe they will strip this team down and the idea of a win is not in the cards, but for now they are on a two-game win streak and have taken care of the small things during the game to put themselves in a position to win, so why not go out there and do so.

It may hurt your draft implications, but nobody right now cares, the draft is months away, people right now just want to see a competitive team.

They have shown that in the last few games.

The Grizzlies will continue their road trip with a back-to-back with the Portland Trailblazers tomorrow and Saturday.

Who all will still be wearing the Grizz jersey remains unknown.