Can the Memphis Grizzlies keep the 8th seed in the Western Conference?

Boston Celtics: August 11th (6:30 PM ET)

Boston will be a challenge for the Grizzlies after reading Jae Crowder, as the Celtics have 3 all-star level wings in Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward. So it will be a tough assignment for Brandon Clarke, Dillon Brooks and Kyle Anderson.

Their only game against Boston on January 22nd resulted in a loss and the main threats were Jayson Tatum who had 23 points and seven rebounds and Daniel Theis who only had 14 points but made all three on his 3-point attempts.

The team overall struggled, missing the occupational easy shot, as they ended the game with only making 42 percent of their field goals while Boston shot 51 percent. Boston’s great defense also caused a lot of headaches, Jackson Jr. was 5-of-15 from the field and Dillon Brooks was 1-of-6. The worst offender was Ja Morant who only took five shots for the whole game and you can credit that to Marcus Smart.

Morant and De’Anthony Melton will provide an annoyance to Kemba Walker defensively. Melton ranked 25th in defensive win shares among point guards.

The main bright spot was Jonas Valanciunas as the team’s leading scorer with 16 points and pulling down 13 boards. Valanciunas punished Boston’s smaller and or weaker defending bigs with old school center basketball, put backs, box-outs and hook shots. This didn’t stop Boston, but when this rematch happens if Memphis makes some more shots and Morant can get to double-digit points while feeding Valanciunas, it should make the game a close one.