Surprised from Game 1 of their first round series once morest the Wolves, the Grizzlies did not really show the same face that allowed them to finish second in the West this season. One of the causes of this defeat according to the men of Taylor Jenkins? Lack of physical impact. So Desmond Bane warns, we’ll have to raise our voices.
130 points conceded, dominated in the battle for the rebound, dominated in the overall intensity… clearly, Game 1 once morest Minnesota did not look like Memphis basketball. Part of the reason the Grizzlies finished with the second-best record in the NBA this year behind Phoenix was the sixth-best defensive efficiency in the League. But Saturday night we rather had the impression of coming back at the very beginning of the regular season when the band at Ja Morant was in open house mode and therefore far from the collective solidity that then characterized their magnificent 2021-22 campaign. Wolves came, they saw, and they won. While Karl-Anthony Towns ate Steven Adams and posterized Jaren Jackson Jr., Anthony Edwards pretty much did whatever he wanted regardless of the guy in front of him. One of them was Desmond Bane, helpless once morest Ant-Man and inevitably a little frustrated by the turn of events. Admittedly, it was only Game 1, but that’s not at all how the Grizzlies imagined their start to the Playoffs.
“We talked regarding the physical impact before approaching this series, and I think he was not present this evening [samedi, ndlr.]. In any case not enough to hope to win. We’re going to have to get dirty to win a series of Playoffs. »
– Desmond Bane, via the Memphis Commercial Appeal
The Grizzlies are in a completely different position today from the past two years. In 2020, they represented the nice surprise of the season and fell with honors in the play-in tournament once morest the Blazers. Last year, the Ja Morant gang managed to snatch their place in the playoffs as the West’s eighth-place finish, before losing to the best team in the regular season. This year ? Memphis is in the costume of favorites in this first round once morest Wolves, a status not always easy to assume for a young team with exceptional ascent. This group still doesn’t know what it’s like to win a series of Playoffs, and will clearly have to start postseason mode to avoid a very big disappointment in the first round. The celebrations, the 56 regular season wins, the sweet words sent to the opponent while it was fun on the field…, all that was the joy of the regular season. Now you have to quickly adapt to the very different world of the Playoffs, especially once morest an unapologetic Minnesota team also characterized by the ardor of youth. Desmond Bane is right, the Grizzlies need to raise their voices quickly because the Wolves are not here to laugh. The latter must feel from the first minutes of Game 2 at the FedExForum that they are truly in hostile territory, and that the party is over.
“I think it was mostly us who didn’t do the right thing. That’s why we lost. We didn’t pay enough attention to certain details of the game plan concerning certain players. »
– Yes, Morant
Expected reaction for the Grizzlies tomorrow night in Memphis. In the intensity, in the physical impact, and of course in the result. Needless to say, defeat is forbidden in Game 2, because landing in Minnesota 0-2 behind would be a very bad plan. Especially once morest these Wolves…
Source texte : Memphis Commercial Appeal
