Desmond Bane out for a long time, Ja Morant rested for a thigh problem…no problem for JJJ. It’s not just the highlights in life, there are the stats, too, it sounds like a Franky Vincent song but it’s a reality for Jaren Jackson Jr, who has been doing defensive masterclasses since returning from injury.
The latest victim? Atlanta and its aviary of young falcons, coming to Memphis back-to-back following the incredible win once morest Chicago. But if absences can handicap the success of the Grizzlies, for the Hawks we can clearly speak of carnage: Trae Young? Out. Dejounte Murray? Out. Clint Capela, John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic? All out as well. Complicated to play in these conditions. Nobody to take orders for scoring, and above all nobody to pass the wall posed in the racket of Memphis.
23 minutes and 36 seconds on the floor, so that’s all it took for JJJ to tie his franchise block record with eight pancakes. The Block Panther was everywhere: on his direct vis-à-vis, in the second curtain or on a switch following a screen, Jaren Jackson Jr. bought buildings in the heads of all Hawks players. Result: a big victory for the Grizzlies, 128-103, with Tyus Jones once once more impeccable in playmaking (22 points and 11 assists for the pocket leader).
The talent of the triple J in circle protection is not new. Top blocker in the league last season with 2.3 rejections per game, his defensive qualities had already enabled him to finish 5th in the race for the title of Defender of the Year. This season, if the few matches played (10) by the young interior does not yet allow him to see his stats counted in the rankings, his number of blocks per match (3.2) nevertheless exceeds that of the current leader of the League in the category, Brook Lopez (2.9). In just 10 games, JJJ signs his fourth game with 5 blocks or more. If the interior of the fantastic 2018 draft manages to maintain this defensive level throughout the season, if injuries spare him for the rest of the 2022-23 fiscal year, and if Memphis also maintains in the heights of the Western Conference, Jaren Jackson Jr might just land as OG Anunoby’s most legitimate contender for the DPOY title.
