The Memphis Grizzlies, who have won two straight and five of their last six games, will play the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night in an effort to keep second place in the Western Conference.
Memphis (43-27) and the Sacramento Kings are currently tied for second place in the West, four games behind Denver, which leads the conference.
Both teams have been doing well, and the Memphis Grizzlies can credit Jaren Jackson Jr. for a lot of their success. On Saturday, Jackson was excellent, scoring 31 points, grabbing seven rebounds, and blocking four shots in Memphis’ 133-119 victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Given that Memphis has been playing without star point guard Ja Morant for the past eight games as a result of a suspension resulting from poor off-court behavior, this was Jackson’s third consecutive game scoring at least 25 points.
Despite being eligible to participate in the matchup with the Mavericks (36-35), Morant has been ruled out due to conditioning.
Without Morant leading the offense, the Grizzlies’ safeguard needed to move forward against the Heroes, which it did, restricting Brilliant State to 7-of-21 shooting from the floor and only one made 3-pointer in the final quarter as Memphis outscored the Champions 29-19.
The Grizzlies’ coach, Taylor Jenkins, hopes that his team can continue to shut down opposing teams at the end of games.
Desmond Plague has been a consistent hostile weapon for the Grizzlies with Morant sidelined. He has scored something like 21 focuses in five of his last six games while additionally averaging 5.5 bounce back and 5.5 helps during that range.
On March 11 and 13, Bane scored 25 and 23 points, respectively, in consecutive games against Dallas.
Tyus Jones has started in Morant’s place and has also picked up where he left off. On Friday, he recorded a triple-double in the 126-120 overtime victory over San Antonio, and against Golden State, he recorded a double-double with 13 points and 14 assists.
Luka Doncic, a star player for Dallas, has been out of the last four games because of a thigh injury, and he may not play against Memphis. However, Maxi Kleber’s three-pointer at the buzzer on Friday helped Dallas defeat the Los Angeles Lakers 111-110, and the Mavericks enter the matchup with the Grizzlies on a two-game winning streak.
In the win, Kleber scored ten points.
The Mavericks’ Kyrie Irving scored a team-high 38 points after recovering from a foot injury. He also had six assists and six rebounds.
In the victory, Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 12 points and may play a bigger role on Monday if Doncic is unable to play. Josh Green (9.5 points per game) and Christian Wood (17.2 points per game) might also contribute more offensively.
In the season series with the Mavericks, Memphis leads 2-1.
