Insider Insights: Grizzlies Valiant Effort Falls Short Against the Lakers

With 13 players ruled out, the Grizzlies started a rare familiar lineup of Scotty Pippen Jr., Jordan Goodwin, GG Jackson II, Jake LaRavia, and Trey Jemison. After being inactive for the Grizzlies’ previous game at the Cleveland Cavaliers, Jordan Goodwin began last night by scoring 11 points and grabbing six rebounds in the first quarter to lead the Grizzlies to a 26-all tie with the Lakers before an 8-0 run gave the Lakers a 34-26 lead to end the first quarter.

The Lakers used hot shooting from three to extend their lead to double-digits at 50-37 to begin the second quarter but the Grizzlies responded with a 25-13 run to cut their deficit to 63-62 before trailing at the half 68-64. Four of the five starters from both teams scored in double-digits at halftime.

Scotty Pippen Jr. made back-to-back threes to put the Grizzlies ahead at 73-72 to begin the third quarter and continued applying pressure along with Jake LaRavia to help the Grizzlies take an 87-78 lead midway through the quarter. However, after leading 93-85 the Lakers used a 13-4 run to retake the lead at 98-97 to end the third quarter.

The Lakers continued that run to begin the fourth quarter as they raced out to a 109-101 lead but Scotty Pippen Jr. answered with back-to-back baskets and a steal and assist to Jake LaRavia (Pete Pranica called it the play of the year) to cut that deficit to 109-107 but an Anthony Davis and-1 stopped the run.

Scotty Pippen Jr. left the game after that amazing play with a left eye injury but GG Jackson carried the load down the stretch helping the Grizzlies to a one-point deficit. Jake LaRavia then hit two free throws to give the Grizzlies the lead at 118-117 with 1:06 remaining but LeBron James answered with a lay-in and the Lakers ended the game on a 6-2 run to win 123-120.

The Grizzlies had four players score over 20 points led by GG Jackson’s 31 points and 3 steals. Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jake Laravia both had 28 points and 6 assists. Scotty Pippen Jr. and Jordan Goodwin both had 4 steals with Goodwin also finishing with 23 points and 17 rebounds.

Now for the main takeaway:

10-Day Contracts Galore

Before the Grizzlies’ recent home game against the San Antonio Spurs, they signed Jack White to a 10-day contract from the G League’s South Bay Lakers to roster enough guys to play that game. With that signing the Grizzlies extended their league record-breaking of 32 players to 33 players to secure that record from being broken or tied by the Detroit Pistons, who was tied with the Grizzlies at 31 players last week.

Specifically, when talking about 10-day contracts, the Grizzlies have signed 12 players this season. Two of those 12 players include current two-way guys Trey Jemison and Jordan Goodwin, who were signed to two-way contracts upon the ending of their 10-day contracts. Five of the 12 players signed multiple 10-day contracts with the Grizzlies. Those five players were Jaylen Nowell, DeJon Jarreau, Matthew Hurt, Maozinha Pereira, and Zavier Simpson.

With only one game remaining that list will probably be final and each one of those players provided value to the team that has been much-needed with the number of injuries that have occurred. See the list below for how 10 of the 12 players (excluding Trey Jemison and Jordan Goodwin) faired in a Grizzlies uniform this season:

Start/Stop/Continue

CONTINUE running the second-quarter sets that got both Jake LaRavia and GG Jackson going at the same time. They combined to score 29 of the Grizzlies’ 38 points in the second quarter to keep the Grizzlies within striking distance.

Coming Up

The Memphis Grizzlies finish their 2023-24 season at home against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday at 2:30 PM CST. The Grizzlies are 0-3 against the Nuggets this season.

Final Quote

“We could’ve easily been like hey we got two games left, let’s get it over with, and let’s go home. But we decided to come in, put our shoes on, and go to work. We fought the whole entire game and it didn’t go our way but we showed some grit.” – Trey Jemison