After Another Historic Loss And A Ja Morant Injury, The Playoffs Have Been A Complete Disaster For The Memphis Grizzlies

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Heading into the playoffs, I'm not sure how many people gave the Memphis Grizzlies a chance in their series against the Thunder. Usually, 1 vs 8 matchups are rather one sided and don't last all that long, but given how competitive the West is perhaps there was hope out there that the Grizzlies would at least be able to push the Thunder to a 5 or 6 game series.

Sadly, that has not happened (so far). Now down 0-3 after another gut punch loss last night, the Grizzlies are cooked. You know the stat by now, no team in NBA history has ever come back from an 0-3 deficit. They're 157-0 all time and 55-0 in the first round. The 2023 Celts almost pulled it off, but Gabe Vincent slid under Jayson Tatum's foot on the very first play of Game 7 and that was that.

Now, normally a 1 seed being up 3-0 on an 8 seed isn't that big of a deal. But in this series? How we got here isn't exactly what you see every day. It started with the 51 point ass whooping

which as you can see above, was the largest margin of victory in a Game 1 in history. Not bad! Game 2 was more along the lines of a normal ass kicking, just a 19 point win, nothing crazy. I'd say that's more along the lines of what most expected, given how these two teams have played all year.

With things now shifting back to Memphis for Game 3, this was it. This was the Grizzlies' season. They desperately needed to get back home and change the momentum, and that's exactly what happened. All of the sudden, it was the Grizzlies who were going belt to ass on the Thunder, to the point where they built up a 29 point lead in the second quarter. Watching it unfold made no sense, mostly because no team in the league has managed to whoop OKC like that this year.

But then…disaster struck….again

Another player injured because someone undercut him/made contact while airborne. This is now the 3rd time we've seen a player get hurt with a play like this, with the first being Jayson Tatum

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who hasn't played a playoff game since it happened (most likely misses tonight as well). Then we had Jimmy Butler the other night having a scary fall of his own after Amen Thompson undercut him once he was airborne

and we still aren't sure when we'll see him again. His MRI was clean, so let's hope for the best. 

Now you add in the Morant play, and what the hell is going on in the playoffs right now? These aren't "hard playoff fouls", they're reckless plays that are taking players out. When this stuff happens there's always a debate between "dirty" or "reckless" and all I know is that it sucks. I want the best players to be on the floor this time of year. I don't know how you prevent plays like this from happening, but it feels like we're getting them every single night now.

In Game 3, that Ja injury was the death blow. The second that happened and he was immediately ruled out, you knew what was coming next. The Thunder got the lead down to 26 by the break and then in the second half well….

Brutal. This series has lasted just 3 games, and the Grizzlies have already been stomped by 51 and then blown a 29 point lead at home while watching their best player get hurt, which is basically the only way the Thunder were able to come back. That is an unreal kick to the dick for that team and fanbase. Both are historic losses, and they suck for different reasons. Game 1 was more embarrassing than anything else. What happened in Game 3 is what crushes your spirit. You feel that shit in your soul. To go from up 29 with Ja to losing Game 3 because Ja got injured is quite the matzah ball to deal with. Beyond brutal.

Once the Grizzlies were without Ja, their offense cratered. SPJ had a tremendous game (28 points), but the playmaking was nowhere to be found. Without Ja to handle the ball the turnovers started creeping up, and once that happens against a team like OKC, you're deader than dead. It also doesn't help that the Grizzlies didn't score for the final 4+ minutes of the game. JJJ couldn't stop turning it over and couldn't make a shot. Every single Grizzlie decided it made sense to allow Alex Caruso to see the ball and bring it into his airspace. What do you think was going to happen?!?!?

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The fact that SGA was dogshit for the 3rd straight game and the Grizzlies walk away 0-3 is exactly what makes the playoffs so excruciating. Had they pulled out Game 3, the entire vibe of this series changes heading into Game 4. Now at least you avoided the sweep and didn't go out sad. But now? You figure Ja isn't going to play in Game 4, NBA history isn't on their side, so you have to think this will be a quick 4-0 sweep.

While I don't think anyone truly believed the Grizzlies were going to win this series or even push it to 7 games, it's hard to not sympathize with them a little bit given how this series has gone. At the same time, this is what you get for trading Marcus Smart when you have no other legitimate replacements on the roster heading into the playoffs. That move brought terrible basketball karma to the franchise, and this is what happens when you upset the Basketball Gods.