Ja Morant, the Memphis Grizzlies’ star player, boasted about the team’s apparent supremacy in their own conference.
“I’m fine in the West,” Morant told ESPN after naming the Boston Celtics as the only legitimate threat.
Three months later, the Grizzlies face plenty of trouble in the West. The Los Angeles Lakers have a 3-1 series lead against Memphis entering Game 5 of their first-round series on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, TNT). And unlike during his sit-down interview midway through the season when he touted the Grizzlies’ championship prospects, Morant skipped post-game interviews following Memphis’ Game 4 loss.
The Grizzlies have learned the hard way that actions speak louder than words. Opponents have lost respect for their talent level after boasting about their NBA title prospects before even winning one. Opponents have then sneered at them for shrinking from the moment.
“We have to go and back it up. That’s what I tell our guys all the time,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “What’s gotten us here is our confidence and our swag. But we also have to be able to back it up and do it on Grizzlies terms.”
Memphis Grizzlies shrinking under the pressure?
Instead of showing confidence and swag, the Grizzlies have since lacked maturity and accountability.
The most notable example involves Memphis forward Dillon Brooks, who has shrunk from challenging LeBron James and owning up to his trash talking. Following the Grizzlies’ Game 2 win, Brooks called the Lakers’ 38-year-old star “old.” He then added, “I don’t respect no one until they come and give me 40.”
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James refused to take Brooks’ bait with both the name-calling and reaching an arbitrary scoring milestone. But James has embarrassed Brooks in other ways. He posted complete performances in Game 3 (25 points, nine rebounds, five assists) and Game 4 (22 points, career-high 20 rebounds, seven assists). James cruised past Brooks for a layup to give the Lakers’ a five-point lead in Game 4 with 29.1 seconds left in overtime. And Jenkins has mostly assigned Memphis center Xavier Tillman on James instead because “he’s done great on him.”
Meanwhile, Brooks has become ineffective with both his on-court play and with fully embracing the villain persona he created for himself. After Lakers fans booed and insulted him during his pre-game warmup prior to Game 3, Brooks faced more jeers for his 3-for-13 clip and for his ejection for hitting James in the groin. Brooks arrived earlier for his pre-game warmup prior to Game 4 when there were fewer Lakers fans in attendance to boo. Yet, he still shot only 4-for-11. Brooks also declined to speak to reporters following both Games 3 and 4.
“Obviously we’re far from where we need to be from a maturity standpoint,” Jenkins said generally about the team before Game 4. “This is all experience you can only gain from. Nothing is going to change overnight.”
Those comments offer an ominous foreshadowing considering the Grizzlies face an elimination game. It also brings up legitimate questions on how much patience the Grizzlies should have with their learning curve.
Last season, Memphis gained some respect for challenging Golden State to six games in the second round of the playoffs. The Grizzlies also wondered if they would have reached a bigger ceiling had Morant not injured his right knee in Game 3 and missed the next three games. During that time, though, the Grizzlies became more wrapped up with things that had nothing to do with Xs and Os.
Brooks committed a flagrant foul 2 on Warriors guard Gary Payton II on a transition layup attempt, which caused a left elbow injury that sidelined him until the NBA Finals. Instead of apologizing to Payton publicly or privately, Brooks questioned Warriors coach Steve Kerr for saying that he “broke the code” and made a “dirty” play.
After Morant injured his knee in Game 3, Jenkins called for the NBA to review the replay to see whether Warriors guard Jordan Poole was responsible. Morant tweeted a link to the video and wrote “broke the code” as a jab to Kerr, and then quickly deleted the message. The NBA found no wrongdoing and did not penalize Poole. If only the Grizzlies devoted more effort toward their play than their trash talk. Memphis shot 41.8 percent vs. Golden State, lost the rebounding battle (50.5- 45.3) and allowed the Warriors to shoot well from the field (45.9 percent).
Everything was in place for playoff success
This season, the Grizzlies became the second-best team in the Western Conference for various reasons. They cemented a franchise-record 11-game winning streak. Morant appeared in his second consecutive All-Star game. Jaren Jackson Jr. won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award after leading the league in blocks per game (3.0). Brooks garnered All-Defense consideration for holding opponents 3 percent under their average field-goal percentage. Grizzlies backup point guard Tyus Jones cemented the NBA’s best assist-to-turnover ratio (5.6). Memphis acquired the NBA’s leading 3-point shooter this season from the Los Angeles Clippers (Luke Kennard).
More turbulence awaited the Grizzlies, though. Morant served an eight-game suspension for appearing on an Instagram Live video holding a gun at a Denver nightclub. Memphis suffered season-ending injuries to Brandon Clarke (left Achilles tear) and Steven Adams (sprained right knee). And following a seven-game winning streak, the Grizzlies closed out the regular season with a 3-3 mark.
Once the playoffs started? The Grizzlies faced a seventh-seeded Lakers team that has featured a healthy James and an improved supporting cast. Morant missed Game 2 after taking a hard fall on his right hand toward the end of Game 1. Although Morant gave Memphis a fighting chance in Game 3 with 45 points, the Lakers dominated the Grizzlies in the first quarter (35-9). Afterwards, the Grizzlies’ players talked internally about how to correct their miscues.
“As coaches, we know there’s no better way than having player leadership take over and understanding we’re building this thing together through the course of a long season,” Jenkins said. “We built a game plan together going into a series. We have to make the necessary adjustments. But at the end of the day, when our guys know what the key priorities are and they own that, that’s usually what’s going to get you your best basketball.”
Memphis hardly showed its best basketball, however, in Game 4. Bane lamented the team’s “game-plan discipline.” Morant missed all four shot attempts in the fourth quarter. Bane noted he and Brooks failed to help on James’ game-tying basket with .8 seconds left in regulation. And Bane missed his two shot attempts in overtime.
“You’re playing against a team that exploits a lot of those details. It’s a little bit glaring at times,” Jackson said. “They run a lot of pick-and rolls and get mismatches. Sometimes they might be looking slow. They are milking the clock to get really what they want each time. You can’t have any mistakes. A small mistake will look like a big mistake.”
All of which has added up to the Grizzlies facing potential elimination. Still, Memphis believes its resiliency will make a difference.
The Grizzlies own the NBA’s best home record (35-6). Memphis has led the NBA in transition offense (18 points per game). And the Grizzlies have had success with limiting Lakers forward Anthony Davis in Game 2 (13 points on 4-for-14) and Game 4 (12 points on 4-for-13).
“In order to win a series, you’re going to have to win one game on the road,” Bane said. “So we come back here for Game 6, we’ll come with the right edge and right mentality and steal one on the road and see what happens in a Game 7.”
Mark Medina is an NBA Insider at Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.