Tuomas Iisalo hasn’t had the easiest start to an NBA coaching career.
Iisalo took over as interim coach for the Memphis Grizzlies after Taylor Jenkins was fired last Friday. Iisalo was chosen to lead the team during the final weeks of the season, but his first three opponents — the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors — were a major challenge, even if each game was in Memphis.
Despite going 0-3, Iisalo recognized some encouraging signs for a team trying to climb out of an end-of-the-season spiral — a four-game losing streak and seven defeats in the past eight games.
On Thursday night, Memphis (44-32) has another difficult assignment when it visits the Miami Heat (35-41). The Heat extended their season-best winning streak to six games with Wednesday’s 124-103 victory at Boston.
In their 134-125 loss to the Warriors on Tuesday, the Grizzlies overcame a 17-point deficit in the first half and led by four late in the fourth quarter before the Warriors closed on an 18-5 run.
“The message to me is very clear,” Iisalo said. “With this type of effort and intensity and togetherness, we can achieve a lot.
“It’s just the timeline that’s tight right now for us. There’s a lot of things we can now work on because the base seems very stable when you look at how we are playing overall when we execute.”
Four of the Grizzlies’ final six regular-season games will be on the road, starting with Miami.
“Every game it ratchets up,” Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr. said. “It’s got to be at an all-time high now. We know that there’s no time for it to not be as urgent as possible. It’s at an all-time high.”
Once considered a strong possibility to finish second in the Western Conference behind Oklahoma City, the Grizzlies are battling with the Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers for fifth place in the Western Conference. Teams that finish seventh through 10th in the conference must compete in a play-in tournament to reach the playoffs.
Defensively, Memphis must step up. The Warriors on Tuesday made 22 3-pointers and scored 74 first-half points. On Saturday against the Lakers, the Grizzlies allowed 72 first-half points and 19 3-pointers in a 134-127 loss.
“There’s no magic tricks,” Iisalo said. “It’s just coming up with the better defensive game plan, something with more clarity. I think the clarity (has to) come before the intensity. You need to know what you’re going to do so you can do it (intensely). It starts with me. We have to be ready when the game starts.”
Miami, meanwhile, has found its late-season stride.
After losing 10 straight games from March 5-21, the Heat have put together their six-game winning streak and are in solid position to make the play-in tournamen, resting in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
On Wednesday night in Boston, the Heat shot 51.8 percent from the field and led by as many as 22 points to snap the Celtics’ nine-game winning streak. Tyler Herro led Miami with 25 points and nine assists and Bam Adebayo scored 21 points.
Miami’s next challenge will be completing a back-to-back set on Thursday in an effort to keep its streak alive.
“That doesn’t matter,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “We all have back-to-backs. We’re not afraid of those.”
–Field Level Media
