PHOENIX – Steven Adams refuses to overcomplicate matters.
“Sometimes,” the Grizzlies center surmised, “getting slapped in the face, bro, wakes you up.”
Adams is as tough in his assessment of the Grizzlies’ recent slide as he is tenacious in pursuit of rebounds in the lane. In either case, there’s no room for half-stepping or sugarcoating. The path to fixing their early struggles the past two road losses begins by getting straight to the point.
After trailing in the first half by as many as 24 points in Oklahoma City and then falling behind 21 points in the first quarter against Denver, the Grizzlies have been dealt a firm reality check.
Easing into games isn’t an option.
“I wouldn’t give us any excuse – we came out like (crap),” Adams bluntly assessed. “To get down 20 points, you can’t do that. Especially against good teams. It starts with the starting group. We can’t come out poor. We’ve got to follow the game plan. We have to go, just go.”
The Grizzlies (19-11) collectively carry that message and mindset onto Phoenix, where they face the Suns on Friday looking to get back on track after lethargic starts in consecutive losses. This time a week ago, Memphis was culminating a season-best, seven-game winning streak with a blowout victory over a Milwaukee team currently boasting the NBA’s best record.
Memphis led the Bucks by as many as 50 points, capped an unbeaten five-game homestand and improved the Western Conference’s best home record to 13-2. And then, the Grizzlies hit the road and have hardly resembled the same team that had dominated opponents at FedExForum.
The Grizzlies simply came out sluggish and overlooked an undermanned Thunder team Saturday that was without star guard Shae Gilgeous-Alexander. Memphis trailed by 20 even before All-NBA guard Ja Morant was ejected on two technical fouls in the 115-109 setback.
But Denver was a different situation altogether. The flatfooted Grizzles were blitzed from the start by league MVP Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets, who led 35-14 after the first quarter. Overwhelmed physically in the paint and unable to get much going offensively, the Grizzlies couldn’t completely bounce back in the 105-91 loss in their lowest-scoring output of the season.
The prevailing issue wasn’t difficult to identify after Tuesday’s effort. Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins admitted the opposing team came out with a more aggressive, competitive mentality.
“Our guys, two games in a row where we don’t come out in the first quarter, and (we) pay the price for it,” Jenkins said. “I thought we were getting some good shots early, and we just need to convert those to give ourselves a better start to the game. When you go down like that early, the margin for error is super small, but it’s a game of runs for sure.”
A common theme between the first two games of this four-game trip has been a combination of poor shooting, uncharacteristic turnovers from the outset and early foul trouble. Through two games, the Grizzlies have shot just 17-of-71 (23.9%) from three-point range.
In addition to those woes, they haven’t controlled the lane at their normal rate as the top rebounding and paint scoring team in the NBA. Another factor is the scheduled has stiffened.
Tuesday’s loss left the Grizzlies and Nuggets tied atop the West, with the trip’s final two games against the fourth-place Suns on Friday and the defending champion Warriors on Christmas. The Grizzlies then face the Suns again, the Raptors, Pelicans and Kings – all playoff contenders.
“We can’t sneak up on anybody, and we knew that going into this year,” Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones said of the Grizzlies, who rose to No. 1 in this week’s NBA.com Power Ranking. “We’re 30 games in, but it still takes some getting used to. That’s what’s testing us, and that’s how we’re going to continue to grow. We’re not hanging our heads. We’re continuing to look ourselves in the mirror, going to the drawing board and figuring out how we’re going to take steps forward.”
Increasing the level of urgency at the start of games is a good first step.
“That’s the whole plan, literally,” forward Jaren Jackson Jr. said. “We’ve got to have each other’s backs and physically set the tone when we come out. We’ve been here before. There’s no frustration about it. It’s just going out there together and doing what we need to do.”
From top to bottom, nearly every team in the West has faced some issues this season. Much like the Grizzlies, both the Nuggets and Pelicans have endured multiple lineup tweaks because of injuries to key starters. The Warriors have struggled mightily with one of the worst road records in the league. The Lakers and Clippers have been underwhelming despite expectations.
The Grizzlies take the court Friday against a Suns team dealing with internal friction, injuries and chemistry challenges amid a stretch in which they’ve lost seven of their last 11 games.
Meanwhile, Memphis has responded productively whenever adversity strikes, and has yet to drop three consecutive games this season. Tuesday’s loss was followed by a lengthy film session on Wednesday before the team departed for Phoenix. The two-day break will also give the Grizzlies a chance to practice Thursday to make any necessary tweaks for a better start Friday.
“We’ve got to be the aggressors coming out from the jump,” Jones reiterated. “We had been playing like that. But these last couple of games now, we’ve been a little more relaxed. We’ve got to get back to playing Grizzlies ball.”
An attitude adjustment is a key part of that quick fix.