Memphis Grizzlies: What to make of the 19-game losing streak
By Tony East
The Memphis Grizzlies finally ended their 19-game losing streak. Let’s take a look back at the struggles and what they mean.
What were you doing on Jan. 29? John Wall and Jimmy Butler were still playing basketball. The Miami Heat had the third-most wins in the Eastern Conference. The Utah Jazz were seven games under .500.
You get it, a lot has changed since Jan. 29, a ho-hum day where the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Phoenix Suns, 120-109.
That win propelled Memphis to 18-31. That’s a bad record for certain, but it’s a win percentage that translates to a slightly over 30-win team. Sure, Memphis would be disappointed if its roster only finished with slightly over 30 wins, but given the injury problems it had up to that point, it was a fine win total all things considered.
Then, doom.
The Grizzlies lost a close one two nights later to the Indiana Pacers. Then two nights after that, they just barely couldn’t find a way to grab a victory in Detroit. From there, it spiraled out of control, with J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad stumbling in 19 consecutive games before finally ending the streak Saturday with a win over the Denver Nuggets.
The whole process was frustrating and put a strain on the team. Marc Gasol has made comment after comment this year about the frustrations he has had throughout the season, but he had a lot to say after a loss to the Bulls extended the streak to 15 losses, per NBA.com’s Michael Wallace:
"“Right now, winning cannot be the only goal – it’s got to be a consequence. It’s about how can we find enough things that happen as a consequence that also results in a win? The losing streak cannot be an excuse for you not to do your job. Worrying about that will only bring more frustrations. You want to do all the right things and may the chips fall where they may. That’s where we’re at.”"
The portion of this that demands attention is Gasol’s phrasing “more frustrations.” Clearly, he and everyone else was taking the losing streak hard, and that mental strain could not have made it easier for the players to focus on the task at hand.
The 19 games took Memphis through quite the gauntlet. In the early portions of the endeavor, Tyreke Evans sat out a few games because the front office believed they were going to trade him. They did not, and as a result, the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the likes of the Atlanta Hawks and (at the time this wasn’t great) Utah Jazz without a key contributor.
At the trade deadline, James Ennis II was sent to Detroit. Ennis was a key rotation piece, and that trade worsened the team’s chances of finding success every night.
After the All-Star break, the front office had shifted toward a tanking mindset. Kobi Simmons, Ivan Rabb and Wayne Selden began to see an uptick in playing time. Myke Henry played nearly 25 minutes in a game against Phoenix that the organization desperately wanted to lose for tanking purposes. In the same game, Ben McLemore played under nine minutes. It is clear where the mindset of management is located.
It didn’t help that Evans, Mario Chalmers and Andrew Harrison all came down with injuries. Bickerstaff was forced to play 10-day contract guys Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Briante Weber big minutes at point guard.
Combine the mindset of the front office with a tough string of trades (or lack thereof) and injuries, and the Grizzlies lost 19 in a row, the longest losing streak the team has had since they relocated to Memphis.
Finally, on Saturday, they find a way to squeak out a 101-94 win over the Denver Nuggets. Truly, the team didn’t play great, shooting just 40 percent, but Denver shot below 37 percent as Memphis finally scraped out a win.
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The Memphis Grizzlies’ losing streak is over. It was a long and perilous journey, but the team can finally focus its attention on the final stretch of the season, and the players will be less frustrated. Whether the organization tries to right the ship or tank it out the rest of the way remains to be seen, but we will found out in the coming weeks. The team will just be happy to have notched that one win for now.