In an inconsistent start to the season, the Memphis Grizzlies have had trouble defending their home court, yet they still haven’t dropped a game on the road.
Memphis hopes its strong play away from home continues Monday when it travels north to face the Toronto Raptors.
After beginning the year 6-0, the Grizzlies have lost their last three games — all at FedEx Forum. Head coach Tuomas Iisalo’s team lost the first two games of the skid by a combined five points before falling 128-97 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.
“You’re always looking at a rolling average of the games and try not to put too much stock into one game,” Iisalo said. “Two of the three games, I thought we had a good chance. We played 48 minutes and tried to compete (on Friday), but it was clear that it wasn’t our day. What we’ve got to do is make sure that even in those types of games, we keep competing.”
Memphis (4-0 on the road) and the San Antonio Spurs (4-0) are the only teams that haven’t lost away from home this season.
Guard Ty Jerome has two 40-plus point outputs for the Grizzlies and leads the team with 26.6 points per game. Rookie Cameron Boozer, the third-overall draft pick, adds 15.6 points and a team-best 10 rebounds per contest.
Jaylen Wells will look to get back on track after consecutive poor shooting nights. Wells scored in double figures in each of his first five games of the season, but he has been held to 2-for-10 from the field across losses to Indiana and Oklahoma City.
The 23-year-old is averaging 10.7 points per game and is one of several Memphis players needing a bounce-back effort after the team was held under 100 points for the first time this season.
“Obviously not being positive about a loss, but you can be neutral,” Wells said. “Just looking back at the film and knowing there’s a lot of things we can correct on our own end.”
Meanwhile, Toronto is happy to return home after a travel-heavy beginning to the season. The Raptors have played six of their first nine games away from Scotiabank Arena, including a recent road trip that ended in a 2-2 split.
Unlikely faces have stepped up for head coach Darko Rajakovic’s team, which has weathered injuries to three of its four leading scorers in Scottie Barnes (23.5 ppg), Kawhi Leonard (19.5) and Immanuel Quickley (17.4).
Seldom-used reserve Alijah Martin scored a career-high 27 points in Toronto’s 121-107 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.
With Leonard expected to miss at least two more weeks with swelling in his left knee and Barnes (left adductor) and Quickley (right hamstring) questionable for Monday, the Raptors might need more than a one-game contribution from Martin.
“I’m really happy for him,” Rajakovic said of Martin. “He had a rough summer dealing with a recovery from his knee surgery, and he put in a lot of work to get healthy for the start of training camp. It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling to see how he contributed on both ends of the floor.”
Martin is averaging 6.3 points on 72% shooting from the field and 61.5% (8-for-13) from beyond the arc.
The Raptors beat Memphis in both meetings last year for their first season sweep over the Grizzlies since the 2018-19 campaign.
–Field Level Media
