The final game of the regular season presents a different opportunity than the Memphis Grizzlies were expecting two months ago.
On Feb. 2, the Grizzlies were 33-16 and in second place in the Western Conference, only 5.5 games behind Oklahoma City.
On Sunday, however, the Grizzlies play the visiting Dallas Mavericks as a struggling team operating under an interim coach. Memphis has lost two straight and six of its last nine. The Grizzlies are also now 20 games behind Oklahoma City and bound for the play-in tournament.
The best Memphis (47-34) can finish is as the No. 7 seed in the four-team play-in, but it will require defeating the Mavericks (39-42) and having the lowly Utah Jazz beat Minnesota in Minneapolis.
The Jazz have won only 17 games and are tied with the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the league. Utah is 1-9 in its last 10 games; Minnesota is 8-2.
The Memphis freefall included back-to-back second-half collapses in Thursday’s home loss to Minnesota and Friday’s loss at Denver. Against Minnesota, the Grizzlies yielded a 26-2 run in the fourth quarter to see a 75-69 advantage become an 18-point deficit.
In the loss to Denver, the Grizzlies were outscored 14-1 in the closing minutes that turned a 108-103 lead into an eventual 117-109 defeat as the Grizzlies managed just 14 points in the fourth quarter.
“I think overall one of first questions I asked the coaching staff (was) why only 14 points in the fourth quarter,” Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “We’ll see the answers from the video. But I thought there were a lot of quality looks for our best offensive players.”
Memphis got 24 points from Desmond Bane and 21 from Ja Morant, but the final minutes were unproductive.
Despite the recent struggles, Iisalo believes the Grizzlies can recover in the postseason.
“The belief is very high,” Iisalo said. “What has happened has happened. We are playing very competitive teams. Everyone from (teams seeded) 3 to 8 is pretty much tied. There will be a postseason. And it’s very much in our own hands. All we can do is do everything we can to recover from this very brutal trip and then focus on this last game against Dallas and see what the future holds.”
Memphis has been hit hard by injuries, including losing starting forward Jaylen Wells to a broken wrist earlier in the week at Charlotte. They also lost key reserve Brandon Clarke to a PCL strain in mid-March. Both injuries have played a role in the team’s slide.
“Obviously, nobody wants to go from 2 to 8 (in the conference standings),” Iisalo said. “I do have to say, overall, the teams we have played in the West lately are playing at a completely different level than they were earlier in the season.
“The competition is very, very tight and we’ve been in these games — we just haven’t been able to turn them to our advantage. This is the situation we are in.”
Dallas is also in the play-in and coming off an impressive win Friday against Toronto. Anthony Davis turned in his best game as a Maverick by finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists and seven blocks in the 124-102 victory.
Battling injuries since arriving in a trade from the Lakers, Davis appears to have recovered. He had a double-double Wednesday against the Lakers.
“As we get healthy, we’re not that far off,” said Dallas coach Jason Kidd.
–Field Level Media
