Game Preview: Grizzlies vs Bucks

When: Thursday, February 15th, 7:30 PM CST

Where: FedEx Forum, Memphis, TN

How to Watch/Stream: TNT

As one could reasonably expect, the month of February has not been kind to the Memphis Grizzlies. I know what you’re thinking, and it is fair to say that none of the months have been kind to this team, but I don’t think any other month can boast the winless record that February has right now.

Entering the month, the Grizzlies were on a two game losing streak that has since been extended to nine games (possibly even ten by the time you’re reading this). Looking on the positive side, only three of those nine have been by double digits. This recent period has been as experimental as Grizzlies have been regarding lineups and rotations etc, so there’s a chance that chemistry and understanding of scheme is at an all time low. 

While some of that experimentation is out of necessity (injuries, trades etc), the entirety of the losing streak cannot be blamed on this. A portion of this has been puzzling, such as Trey Jemison’s lack of consistent game time, but there have been other aspects, such as Yuta’s return, that have been welcome developments.

The Bucks, however, do not have the “luxury” of low expectations that the Grizzlies currently have. The team is 4-6 in their last ten and 3-6 with Doc Rivers as their coach. While it’s certainly not worth completely giving up on this team, I had assumed that there would be an aggressive bounce back in the win-loss column following the introduction of a new, more “respected” head coach, but that has not been the case.

On the season, the Bucks sit fifth in offensive rating, scoring 199.9 points per 100 possessions, and eighteenth in defensive rating, allowing 116.7 points per 100 possessions. By outscoring opponents by 3.2 points per 100 possessions, the team ranks 10th in net rating, in between the Denver Nuggets and the Phoenix Suns. Compared to their finish of fifth last year (just behind the Grizz), there have been some concerning signs on this team that have been developing.

The Other Grizzlies

It’s been mentioned numerous times by myself and other Grizzlies fans/writers, but ever since Ja Morant’s season ended, the goal of this season shifted to finding cost-effective pieces of the 2024-25 teams and beyond. Part of this goal has been accomplished, as finding Vince Williams Jr and GG Jackson Jr is a success. Kleiman went ahead and decided that wasn’t enough, so he locked them both down to long-term deals so team-friendly that I’m concerned about the quality of their agents.

However, outside of the pleasant surprises of those two, it has largely been a mixed bag of results regarding the other other Grizzlies. To be frank, I don’t consider Luke, Santi, Konchar etc to be members of this group, as they’ve been established rotation members for a little bit now. I’m more so talking about newer roster additions, such as Scottie Pippen Jr, Trey Jemison, Yuta Watanabe, and Lamar Stevens.

Out of that group, I have been most impressed with Scottie Pippen Jr, especially with his poise, use of pace, and how well he plays within himself. When a lot of guys receive this opportunity, you’ll notice them try to do too much or take too many shots, but Scottie has played his own game at his own pace. He’s aggressive when needed, but he primarily defaults to others, something I love in a point guard.

As previously mentioned, Trey doesn’t get the minutes that I thought he would, especially taking the Adams trade into account. That being said, the early returns haven’t been great, as the rebounding hasn’t translated and the lack of scoring has continued (7 points in his last three games). That being said, his high motor should yield some success soon, and his passing has been much better than advertised.

As for Yuta and Lamar, I struggle to see them both getting consistent minutes, and I (selfishly) prefer Yuta. Lamar has never been an average shooter, let alone a good one, and I struggle to see where he fits in long-term. Yuta, however, has already been a beloved part of this locker room and fits in from a skill set point of view as well. Getting him as a throw-in to the David Roddy trade is crazy, especially considering one could argue Yuta may be the better basketball player.

Bucks: Pretenders or Contenders?

As for the state of the Bucks, it is not necessarily one that I envy. Now, that might sound insane considering the above segment was talking about the Grizzlies attempts to dumpster-dive for rotation pieces, but hear me out. After winning the 2021 NBA Finals, the Bucks have been dealt a few bad hands. In 2022, it took under-performing from Giannis’s two co-stars, Jrue and Middleton, for the Celtics to beat them in seven. In 2023, Giannis was injured in their first-round exit against the eventual East champions Miami Heat, once again ending their season prematurely.

Isolated, these incidents don’t really mean much. However, in the world of the NBA, two years without a title is enough, even when the team has valid excuses for failure. Considering Giannis is an insane competitor, I guess it shouldn’t come as a shock that he finally started to participate in the front-office politics that we’ve seen other stars delve into. By being ambiguous about his future and not re-signing, Giannis was prodding the Bucks to change SOMETHING, and that’s exactly what they did.

Initially, the acquisition of Dame was met with excitement and eagerness to watch two of the beest suit up for the same team, but over time, the cracks have begun to show. The Bucks mortgaged (almost) their entire future on a 33 year-old diminutive guard who has never been a league-average defender. While Dame is as talented as they come on offense, his point-of-attack defense may be  closer to mine than Jrue Holiday’s. Combine this with father time catching up to him, Brook Lopez, and other Bucks, and the result has been far from stellar.

To top it all off and really appease their franchise cornerstone, the Bucks even hired a first-time head coach to pioneer this group. You’d assume that there would be some sort of leniency with said first-time coach, but Adrian Griffin, despite starting 30-13, was let go mid-season. Moreover, the team decided that repeated playoff-regresser Doc Rivers was the man to take over and save theory season.

Doc Rivers, now 3-6 as Bucks head coach, could turn things around, but this approach seems rather volatile and unsustainable. Outside of Giannis, this is an aging roster full of players whose peaks were elsewhere, and now that they’ve leveraged nearly all of their assets to get Dame, I struggle to see how this team can be improved further. With other Eastern Conference contenders beginning to heat up as well, Milwaukee will need to shape up sooner rather than later.