The Memphis Grizzlies are beginning a new era of basketball, which should bring an exciting series with the Detroit Pistons this season.
The Memphis Grizzlies Grit and Grind area ended officially last season by completely overhauling the roster and ushering in a new age team led by ex-MSU Spartan Jaren Jackson Jr. and rookie phenom Ja Morant, they look to not be swept by the Pistons as they were least season.
Last season, the Grizzlies played the Pistons twice, each of which took place in 2019. The first matchup took place on Jan. 2, and was a game dominated by each teams’ power forward. The Grizzlies scoring was led by Jackson with 26 points, and he was supported by Kyle Anderson’s 15, Dillon Brooks’ 14 and Marc Gasol’s 11 points. A noted absence from the leading scorers was franchise point guard Mike Conley who shot an abysmal 0-for-8 from the field.
On the Pistons’ side of the game, Blake Griffin added to his points per game number by putting up 26 points as well as 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals, a stat line that showed how dominant he was. The Pistons had a pretty balanced scoring attack with five other double-digit scorers, Reggie Jackson with 16, Reggie Bullock and Luke Kennard with 13 each and 11 from both Langston Galloway and Andre Drummond. The Pistons had less rebounds and blocks, but more assists, turnovers, steals, and most importantly the Pistons had more points as the game ended 101-94.
The second of the two matchups ended at a score of 100-93 in favor of the Pistons. These Grizzlies were amazingly, completely different as no player played in both of the games. Due to an extremely busy trade deadline.
Griffin was starting to feel his knee injury and was limited to only 18 minutes where he scored five points on five shots. Ish Smith led the Pistons with 22 points off the bench. Drummond also put up 20 points and 17 rebounds, dominating the offensive glass with seven offensive rebounds. Kennard was red hot from downtown as he hit 5-of-9 three pointers to give him 15 points off the bench. Delon Wright and Bruno Caboclo led the very balanced Grizzlies offensive attack as each had 15 points.
Going into this season expect to see another completely different Grizzlies roster as they had a hectic offseason.