Insider Insights: Memphis Grizzlies at Philadelphia 76ers

That was a gusty comeback win.

The Memphis Grizzlies traveled to the city of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia 76ers. This is the second of a short two-game road trip for Memphis as they won their last game against the Brooklyn Nets on March 4th. Memphis’ record was 21-41 coming into last night’s contest.

The 76ers came into the game 35-26 tied for 6th place in the Eastern Conference. Their last outing was a 112-107 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on March 5th.

Both of these teams are in similar, but different situations. Memphis’ playoff hopes died a long time ago while Philly is in the middle of the Eastern Conferencde playoff position, jockeying for position, aiming to avoid a play-in spot. However, both teams are plagued with injury which can lead to an interesting dynamic in a game like this. Both teams were without some their All-Star caliber players with Memphis missing Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart and many other while Philadelphia was missing Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.

The first quarter was competitve. Both teams were tyring to feel each other out. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Vince Willaims set the tone early with 8 points in the quarter, primarily from the paint. However, an unlikely boost of offesne came from Jake LaRavia. The Wake Forest product had 10 points at the first quarter. The first ended in a 37-31 lead for Memphis.

The 2nd quarter turned in favor of Philly. Kelly Oubre Jr. and Nicloas Butum came alive with 10 points a peice in the quarter while Memphis went cold from the outside. Memphis shot a collective 36.4 percetnt from the field and could only manage 19 points. On the other hand, Philly scored 33 point to end the half with a 64-56 lead.

The 2nd half seemed to be all Philly. They came out the gate on fire with a balance attack from the outside and inside. A few timely threes by Memphis-native Cameron Payne and Buddy Hield pushed the lead to double digits. They pushed the lead to 15 with 5:18 remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The quarter ended with a 93-81 76ers lead. The final quarter saw Memphis go on a 11-0 run to get themselves back in the game. With Embiid out, the 76ers rim protection was lacking and Jaren Jackson Jr. and Santi Aldama and the rest of the Grizzlies took full advantage.

The 76ers played with desperation sensing the comeback coming, but the pressure lead to bad execution and cold shooting. Philly shot 25% front the field in the 4th. Memphis’ defense held strong with 15 blocks in the game. With two Vince Willams free throws Memphis took a 105-104 lead with 3:27 left and never looked back.

The final ended with a 115-109 Memphis win. It was an overall team effort with five guys in double figures with JJJ leading the way with a 30 PTS 11 RBS double-double. Vince Williams held the duties of point guard as he tallied 17 PTS and 9 ASTS. LaRiva continued his hot shooting as of late as he had 19 points while brining down 13 RBS.

This brings Memphis to back-to-back wins on the road while seeing a lot of positives from rotations guys.

Now for the takeaways:

Proving Naysayers Wrong

If you ask any Grizzlies fan, or anyone who is active on Grizzlies twitter who are the most polarizing players on the team, you would probably hear the names Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jake LaRavia the most.

These are two guys on two complete opposite ends of the rotation with two complete different trajectories in this league, but both get a good amount of heat from the fans.

With Jackson, the heat he gets is primarily about his inconsistent aggressiveness, his fouling, and rebounding issues. All those are somewhat warranted, but this year he has tended to these concerns and games like this in an example of it.

A 30 PTS 11 RBS and 6 BLKS performance is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, he had 4 fouls, but those fouls didn’t affect his minutes or play style in this game. He still played 37 minutes and kept his level of aggressiveness high.

With Joel Embiid out, JJJ had the size and physicality advantage all night and he did exactly what he should’ve done. He dominated the inside, the glass, and took care of business with the win. He divides the fan base at times, but games like this should lean the fan base in a positive direction.

No matter if fans like it or not, Trip is a cornerstone in this franchise. He’s going to be on this team for the foreseeable future and he’s going to get better. This year he has shown fans how he performs as the number 1 option and I believe he has done a great job in that role.

LaRavia on the other hand doesn’t divide Grizz fandom. Most people are saying he should be off the team and the front office wasted a first round draft pick on him. It didn’t help when the Grizzlies signed him to a 4-year deal in the summer of 2022.

He has been the butt of many jokes, memes, and hate since he’s been here. I admit, LaRavia has not played well for the most part during his tenure with the team. He has shown a lacked of consistency, IQ, and strength since he’s been drafted which are all things that were listed as positives when he was initially drafted.

However, he has been injured a lot bunch since joining the team and hasn’t had the opportunity to get into a real flow or rhythm within the rotation. Despite that, in the month of March he is averaging 15.0 PTS and 6.8 RBS a game. It’s a small sample size but he has been productive on the floor.

His decision making has improved and he’s playing with more confidence. He seems to be finding his spots and letting the game come to him instead of forcing the issue. I’m not saying he’s going to turn the fan base around with this few stretch of good games, but it is good to see LaRavia do something positive for himself and this team.

Hopefully this leads to a trend of serviceable minutes for the 22 year-old.

Optimistic/Pessimistic

What to be optimistic about?: The team showed a lot of fight and beat a team that was more talented on paper. A lot of players stepped up in the role and welcomed the challenge.

What to be pessimistic about?: Grizzlies basketball is ending in 19 games. We still have a lot of injuries and this may be the final group of available players we see for the rest of the season.