Last season the Memphis Grizzlies finished 12 games out of the Play-In Tournament. This season they won their first six games and went into Monday as the NBA’s only unbeaten team, before losing 135-134 in overtime to New Orleans. They are 6-1. Is it real?
How they got here
Memphis spent about 18 months rebuilding, trading away Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane. They are now led by a guard, Ty Jerome, who had averaged 9.7 points per game over his career before this season, and rookie forward Cameron Boozer, who made his NBA debut just 12 days before NBA.com’s rankings were written.
What is working
- Elite on both ends. Through six games Memphis ranked first in net rating (+14.7), third in offense and second in defense, according to NBA.com.
- Shooting up and down the roster. Cedric Coward, Cam Spencer, GG Jackson II, Quinten Post and Isaiah Stewart were all above 40% from three, per Sports Illustrated. As a team the Grizzlies shot 41.6%, the league’s best.
- Boozer. He had his first career triple-double (18 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) in a win at Portland, scored 27 with nine rebounds against Sacramento, and hit a go-ahead jumper with 20 seconds left against Golden State.
- The bench. Stewart totaled 42 points in under 39 minutes off the bench over two games, and the reserves were far better in Week 2 than in Week 1.
What could fade
NBA.com pointed out that the three-point numbers are unlikely to hold: Memphis shot 41.6% while opponents shot just 30.1%, the third-lowest mark in the league. The Grizzlies outscored every opponent from three, and NBA.com expects those percentages to start moving the other way at some point.
Monday’s loss showed the other side of the margin. Memphis shot better than New Orleans but turned the ball over 16 times to the Pelicans’ 8 and lost the offensive rebounding battle 14-11. See our game recap.
What history says
Before Monday, NBA.com found that Memphis was the 21st team in the 22 years since the league expanded to 30 teams to start 6-0. Of the 20 earlier teams:
- All 20 made the playoffs.
- 19 finished as a No. 5 seed or higher.
- 18 won a playoff series, 12 reached the conference finals and four won the title.
Yahoo Sports added that no team since the 1998-99 Seattle SuperSonics has won its first six games and missed the playoffs. A loss on Monday doesn’t change that 6-0 history.
The road ahead
Memphis hosts Indiana on Wednesday and Oklahoma City in an NBA Cup game on Friday. The Thunder have lost Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for long stretches, so it is a real test for both teams. NBA.com ranked Memphis No. 5 in its Week 3 power rankings, up 12 spots. See our power rankings breakdown.
Our take
The record may be a little ahead of the roster, but not by a lot. A top-two defense and the league’s best net rating at 6-0 suggest this is more than a hot streak. The question is whether the three-point luck holds. If it doesn’t, Boozer, Jerome and Stewart will have to carry more of the load.
Sources: NBA.com – Power Rankings Week 3, Sports Illustrated – Are they for real?, Yahoo Sports – Grizzlies tore down their core, ESPN – Grizzlies team page.
