Grizzlies vs. Trailblazers, Game 1 of 2.

Colin Rafferty –

Your Memphis Grizzlies will play the first of a back-to-back against the Portland Trailblazers, both in Oregon.

The Grizzlies and Trailblazers are relatively similar in team offense, defense, and point differential both landing around the 20-22 spots in all three.

These two teams played each other back at the beginning of December, the Grizzlies won 119-96, Santi had led the way with 22 points, Zach Edey got a double-double but fouled out. Jerami Grant scored 21 pts for the Trailblazers.

They will have a few new faces on the bench for the Grizz tonight as Kyle Anderson, Walter Clayton Jr. and Taylor Hendricks have joined the team.

Ty Jerome is OUT, Santi Aldama is OUT, and Scotty Pippen Jr. is a considered a Game Time Decision but is listed as QUESTIONABLE.

Kyle Anderson is listed as QUESTIONABLE due to an illness.

I expect that because this is a back-to-back that guys like Aldama and Jerome are sitting the first one out. Scotty is trying to get himself back into playing shape and has been seen in shoot arounds.

The best thing this team could do is get guys healthy and lose games, which I know sounds counter intuitive, but if they are going for the rebuild, they would have to keep losing.

I think the team won’t lie down, but the fact is, they don’t really have the guys right now so it wouldn’t be the worst thing.

The Trailblazers are 4-6 in their last 10, averaging 112.9 points, 42.8 rebounds, 28.7 assists, 8.7 steals while shooting 45.2% from the field.

The Grizzlies have been giving up an average of 120.2 points to the past 10 opponents, the Trailblazers are the worst three-point shooting team in the league so I’d expect them to shoot well, the Grizz don’t defend the three.

For the Trailblazers, Blake Wesley and Deni Avdija are listed as QUESTIONABLE. Kris Murray is OUT.

They will be looking for good play out of Shaedon Sharpe, Jerami Grant, Jrue Holiday. They have one of the younger teams in the league and are top ten in pace of play, the ball will be moving fast you gotta take care of it when that is the case.

The Grizzlies have won their last two games, and they will play 4 games in the next 5 days. That’s never easy on the body.

But once they are done with this road trip, it will be the NBA All-Star Break. A nice time to hopefully hear no news come out of the team. It has been a hectic past few months, but they have decided to hit the hard reset button.

Zach Kleiman sat down with the Memphis media today to talk about the future direction of this team and what is the next move.

He said that he has had constructive and honest conversations with Ja and that the decision whether or not to play him moving forward this season is a medical determination.

Kleiman also added that the team is “pivoting to a younger build.”

We all knew this, but they said it out loud and gave the people an understanding that it might be a few rough years, but ultimately the picks and young talent they already have will manifest into something that can win and win big.

Until they start truly tanking, why not just go out and play basketball; see how the chips may fall.

Tip-off is at 9 PM CST, you’ll have to stay up late to catch this game. You can watch it on the FanDuel Sports Network or listen live on 92.9 ESPN FM and on the Audacy app.