Prior to this game, the Grizzlies had just lost to the Hawks in their last game, which led to the team's four-game winning streak being terminated. Although their opponent is at the bottom of the West and has suffered four consecutive defeats, but with the team boss Morant will miss this game due to a knee injury, the Grizzlies must make more efforts if they want to win the game to avoid losing a game.
In the first quarter of the game, the Grizzlies started 12-6 and took a nine-point lead at the end of the quarter. In the second quarter, the Rockets recovered, playing a small 10-0 surge, narrowing the point difference to only 4 points at one point, and the Grizzlies re-attacked at the end of the quarter, leading 56-44 at the end of the half. The Grizzlies scored consecutive points at the beginning of the third quarter, widening the point difference to 16 points. Although the Rockets briefly narrowed the point difference to just six points, the game eventually lost suspense as the Grizzlies scored 15 consecutive points in the final quarter, and the Grizzlies took a 122-98 victory to avoid a losing streak.
In Morant's absence, the main reason the Grizzlies were able to win this game was that they once again played a classic team basketball game. The Grizzlies scored in double figures with as many as six players, including Bane scoring a team-high 24 points, plus five rebounds and seven assists. The team shot a whopping 47.9 percent from the field, a staggering 47.1 percent from three-point range, and 26 assists for the team, scoring a high score of 122 points. In short, the current Grizzlies have shown a strong team combat ability. Although the Grizzlies won the game, Morante, who missed the game as a member, was embarrassed.
According to statistics, in the absence of Morant this season, the Grizzlies have achieved a record of 14 wins and 2 losses in 16 games, with a winning rate of 87.5%, while the current Grizzlies' record of the whole team is 49 wins and 23 losses, which means that in Morant's games, the Grizzlies have a record of 35 wins and 21 losses, with a winning rate of only 62.5%. In the game against the Pacers, Morant also missed the game due to a back injury, and the Grizzlies eventually won 135-102. But in the last game, the Grizzlies after Morant's return lost to the Hawks 105-120. In short, Morant is currently in a state of extreme embarrassment.
The reason why the Grizzlies will play a better record without Morant is inseparable from the following points. First of all, it has to be admitted that when Morant is on the court, the Grizzlies have a concentrated point of ball, which will affect the overallity of the Grizzlies' offense to some extent. When Morant is in good shape, the Grizzlies will not be afraid of any opponent on the offensive end, and when Morant is not in good shape, the Grizzlies' performance on the offensive end also declines. In the last Grizzlies game against the Rockets, Morant was in attendance, but only 7-of-20 shots were made, while the Grizzlies' three-point shooting percentage was only 19.2%, and eventually lost to the Rockets 112-123.
In this game, the Grizzlies in turn beat the Rockets in Morant's absence, and the two games were an extremely stark contrast. Secondly, this season the Grizzlies have been different, young and very energetic they have a lot of offensive firepower on the court, in addition to the team's scoring king Morant can average 27.6 points per game, the team also has 4 people averaging double-digit points per game, of which Brooks can average 17.7 points per game, Bane can average 17.9 points per game, Jackson Jr. can average 16.4 points per game, in the absence of Morant, the performance of the three people is even higher, becoming an important reason for the Grizzlies to win the game.
Finally, this also has something to do with the schedule. Although the Grizzlies won 10 of the 12 consecutive games that Morant had been absent, most of the opponents in these 10 games were non-playoff teams such as the Kings, Thunder and Rockets, and the relatively weak opponents also allowed the Grizzlies without Morant to win games to a certain extent. For a variety of reasons, the Grizzlies have played better in many of Morant's absences this season, which has caused Morant to suffer a lot of doubts for a while, the most obvious of which is the two games against the Thunder.
After Morant suffered a knee injury against the Hawks, the next Grizzlies won five straight games, and during the five-game winning streak, the Grizzlies also played a shocking game at home. In that game, the Grizzlies were in excellent form on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, the whole team slashed a high score of 152 points with a 62.5% shooting rate, while they let the Thunder achieve only 79 points with a 32.9% shooting percentage, and the Grizzlies eventually beat the Thunder by 73 points, setting a record for the largest point difference in the history of the NBA to win in the regular season. Since the Thunder are a rotten fish belly team this season, it makes sense.
But then, Morant came back in 12 games out of the game, and his first comeback was against the Thunder, who had just lost to the Grizzlies with 73 points. But what was jaw-dropping was that the Grizzlies, who had ushered in the team's boss, lost to the Thunder 99:102 in that game, which made Morant extremely embarrassed. Morant was in poor form and scored only 16 points in that game, which put him on the cusp of fans' criticism, believing that his comeback disrupted the Grizzlies' originally established chemistry, and even booed him directly at home.
This also made Morant feel very chilly for a long time, but he soon proved that he was an absolutely indispensable part of the Grizzlies. In the following game against the Western Conference leaders, Morant scored 33 points and contributed a final-minute kill to help the team defeat a formidable opponent. From that game, Morant became unstoppable, leading the team to 10 consecutive wins at the same time, he had 4 games to cut 30+ points, becoming the biggest contributor to the team's ten consecutive wins, and the opponents in these ten games included the Suns, Nets and Warriors such as the strong team, from this point of view, when the Grizzlies faced a hard battle, Morant was the biggest guarantee for them to win.
After winning the Rockets in this game, the Grizzlies' record has reached 49-23. With few games left, although they have been largely unable to catch up with the Suns to become number one in the West, they can eventually lock in second place in the West as long as they remain in their current form. If the Grizzlies want to go further in the playoffs, they will never be able to leave Morant to play.