SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday in the fourth contest for both teams in the bubble.
The Memphis squad, after back-to-back losses to the Spurs and Pelicans on Sunday and Monday, are 0-3 in the bubble and desperate for a win, and their situation became drastically more dire on Tuesday when ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Memphis forward Jaren Jackson Jr. will miss the rest of the season because of a meniscus tear in his left knee.
Unless the Grizzlies, currently the eighth seed in the Western Conference, can create some separation from the trailing Portland Trail Blazers in ninth and Spurs close behind in 10th, they are destined for the newly created play-in tournament that could see them tossed from playoff contention.
If the ninth seed team in either conference is within four games of the eighth seed, the two teams will play each other for the eighth seed (single elimination for the eighth seed, double elimination for the ninth seed).
Memphis’ desperation could reach a boiling point Wednesday when they face the Jazz.
“They recognize that they can play a whole lot better; they wear that,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said of his players after the loss to the Spurs. “That’s a maturity and professionalism that these guys show.”
Like the Jazz, the Grizzlies have been inconsistent through their play in Florida, with flashes of what made them one of the top eight teams in the West only coming through often when it’s too late.
“We’re a good second-half team, but two quarters is not going to win a basketball game,” rookie Ja Morant said.
Some of the bigger issues for the Grizzlies have been rebounding, slow starts and foul trouble. In the loss to the Pelicans, Jonas Valanciunas and Dillon Brooks both fouled out of the game, with Jackson racking up five fouls.
“We’ve got to do better in that area,” Jenkins said after the game.
The mood of the Grizzlies after Monday’s loss was understandably tense. They’d had a chance to keep a cushion between the Blazers and Spurs and possibly put the eighth seed out of reach, but those chances are slipping away with each day.
For Jackson, one of the leading scorers of the Memphis team and one of the best young forwards in the game, the mistakes on the court are one thing, but the team has to stay together mentally in order to get through the next five games. He spoke after the loss to New Orleans, before his season-ending injury diagnosis.
“We’ve got to figure out the little things that are causing us to be in these situations,” he said. “Come together and have each other’s backs on the court, but also like emotionally. Make sure we’ve got each other in the huddles, make sure we’ve got each other at the hotel, make sure that we’re just locked in together.”
Though visibly down after the game, Morant vowed that the Grizzlies are far from giving up and see Wednesday’s matchup with the Jazz as an opportunity to right the ship.
“It’s tough,” he said. “All you can do is keep going, we’re not doing anything else. We came to Orlando for a reason and we all made sacrifices to come here. So we’re just going to keep going and leave it all out there.”
Fighting a desperate team is no easy feat, but after a tough loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, the Jazz will be looking to exploit all the weaknesses that the Grizzlies have displayed over the last week and shut down their strengths.
They’ll be looking to attack the rim, forcing the foul trouble that’s plagued Memphis, outrebound them, and contain former Jazz man Grayson Allen, who has been a 3-point threat off the bench.
A win or loss for either the Jazz or the Grizzlies could end up creating much-needed momentum or devastating it. It’s an important game for both teams at the halfway point of the seeding games in the NBA bubble before the playoffs start.