It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
It wasn’t a tale of two cities in Dallas on Tuesday night for Memphis (shout out Charles Dickens), it was a tale of two quarters of play that made up the second half of a loss for the Grizzlies to the Mavericks.
The third quarter! Beautiful basketball! Memphis won that frame 38-22! They were on pace to win the game by such a margin that the extremely remote possibility of the Grizzlies making the NBA Cup Knockout stage was a bit more plausible!
(For a bit - Oklahoma City destroying Utah squashed that nicely, thankfully.)
The final frame - and specifically the final 3 minutes and 34 seconds, after Ja Morant made a three point shot to give Memphis an eight point lead - was a nightmare that may stick with the team and its fans for some time.
Let’s start with the good.
Ja “Superstar” Morant showed up. Luka Doncic cooked the Grizzlies, especially in the first half. There’s no shame in that - Luka cooks most everyone. But as Luka cooled in the third quarter, Morant accelerated. No one for the Mavericks could stay in front of him. He finished well at the rim, and his defensive efforts continued to trend upward.
The Memphis depth was there, too. Santi Aldama had a productive night with 15 points. Jay Huff hit timely shots and played good defense. Scotty Pippen Jr. stuffed the stat sheet. Memphis played a 10-ish man rotation (Jake LaRavia and Luke Kennard for 17 minutes of play) and the Grizzlies bench was outplaying Dallas’ reserves...
That is, until the final quarter - and especially the final 3:34.
The fouls were absurd. Many, including Taylor Jenkins himself, have pointed out the free throw disparity between the two teams. Memphis took 14 free throws the entire night. Dallas MADE 30 free throws - taking 44.
That means the Mavericks shot a paltry 68.2% from the charity stripe and still more than doubled up Memphis in free throws made. And sure, there were some questionable no-calls that would have gotten the Grizzlies some extra free throw attempts.
But guess who is one of the foulingest teams in the NBA? The Memphis Grizzlies, who boast a whopping EIGHT players that have both logged at least 250 minutes played and a foul percentage 3.5% or higher. To just blame officiating would be lazy.
Memphis did not defend without fouling. They paid for it. Their fast-paced offense was stalled, and Dallas slowly but surely chipped away.
Poor decision making poured gasoline on the offensive execution fire. Diving for a ball believed to have been tipped. Fouls in the back court when in the penalty. Challenging a foul call that led to free throws for the Mavericks. From coaching to the players, there were numerous choices made that impacted Dallas’ ability to get back in the game.
Credit the Mavericks. Luka Doncic is special. Spencer Dinwiddie hit the threes that finished the comeback. But it doesn’t come to be without the Grizzlies imploding. Memphis has not been in many games against good teams like that this season - where clutch time performance and decisions mattered.
It showed Tuesday. Hopefully it will be a learning experience moving forward.
