Grizzlies' Recent Team Struggles: What's Going Wrong?

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00:00And let me ask you, now let's talk about more serious matters.

00:03They've been unraveling like a spleef, honestly.

00:08They've lost six of seven.

00:09They're playing the night against a team

00:12that's playing good ball.

00:13You got your hands full.

00:15What has happened?

00:16They fired the coach.

00:17What is happening off Beale Street?

00:20Well, you know, they went into the break 36 and 18.

00:23They were right at the top of the West,

00:25obviously behind Oklahoma City,

00:27who everybody's looking up at,

00:28but came out and have not played particularly well since,

00:33especially on the defensive end of the floor.

00:34Too many 35, 36, 40 point quarters

00:39and giving up big runs that you don't have answers for.

00:43It was just, there was just a lot of disconnected play

00:46on the court at times.

00:48The defense has been struggling

00:50with over-committing to help from the wings,

00:53giving up an extra pass for wide open threes

00:56and trying to figure things out.

00:58Sometimes, as we know, things happen in pro sports

01:00and teams hit ruts,

01:02and this is one of those times for this team.

01:04It's been really something that's uncommon to this group.

01:07I think you take last year and throw it out

01:09because of the injuries,

01:10because the guys that were out,

01:12you were playing with essentially 47 different players.

01:15We were handing out hello my name is tags

01:17when we got on road trips

01:18because there was always three or four new guys

01:20on 10 day contracts.

01:23But the years they were healthy, they were a playoff team.

01:26And so this type of struggle was very new to them.

01:30And it just seemed like there was just too many times

01:33that they weren't on the same page.

01:36And at some point,

01:37a front office has to make the decision.

01:38Is this gonna continue?

01:39Are we gonna ride this out?

01:40Or is it time to make a change?

01:41It's a very unprecedented time

01:43to make a change this late in the season,

01:45but they have a guy in the background

01:47that maybe they wanna take a look at before the off season

01:49and decide whether he's their next guy or not.

01:52I can't answer that because again,

01:54I always go to the AMPG above my pay grade

01:57and that's what those guys get paid to do.

01:59And they have to live with the decisions,

02:01but there's a lot of criticism

02:03for moves that were made at the deadline

02:05where they didn't get this or didn't get that.

02:08The bottom line is the five guys on the floor,

02:10when they don't look like they're playing

02:11for the guy next to them, that's a problem.

02:14And jaw was in and out of the lineup.

02:16And so I just think that there was a lot of things

02:19that were weighing down this team

02:21and they just felt like it was time to press a button or two

02:23to see if they could spark some late cohesion

02:27to go into the playoffs.

02:28If not, if you go into the playoffs like this,

02:30it's gonna be a problem.

02:31I mean, Scotty, they didn't win a game

02:32in the state of California.

02:33Every road game, Clippers, Lakers, Kings, Warriors,

02:37they didn't win there.

02:37They haven't beaten the Thunder.

02:38They beat the Boston Celtics once.

02:41And in my opinion on that night, they played well,

02:43but Boston was 18 of 60 from three.

02:46I mean, they shot 30%.

02:47If they make their normal percentage, they win that game.

02:49So they've gotta get better defensively.

02:51That's something they always hung their hat on,

02:53but it just hasn't been there as cleanly this year

02:55as it has in years past.

02:56What about, so they got whacked last night.

02:59And I mean, I thought jaw played well.

03:02We've seen Bane snap on his teammate, Aldama,

03:05and Aldama played well last night, I thought off at a bench,

03:08but I don't think that's Bane's issue with him.

03:10Now tonight you got the Dubs in and they're a problem too.

03:14Yeah, they're playing great basketball.

03:16Since the Butler trade, 18 and five,

03:19have guys that do things that give the Grizzlies problems.

03:22And it's gonna be interesting to see

03:24what the Warriors come out and do defensively.

03:28I would imagine, cause everybody's doing it now

03:30since the offense has been circulated

03:33through a couple of match-ups,

03:34there's a lot of three, two shell zone,

03:37take away the wing and top arc three,

03:40recover to the corners and say, all right,

03:42if you're gonna flash the middle with a baseline cut

03:45or a diagonal cut from the corner,

03:47then go for it and beat us that way.

03:49But they're not gonna let Luke Kinnar get open looks

03:52cause he's too good a shooter.

03:52Desmond Bane, same type thing.

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