Jaylen Wells Says Teams Are Scouting Grizzlies’ Offense Differently

The Memphis Grizzlies made 10 of 45 3-point attempts in Friday night’s 128-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Two days earlier, they went 12-of-44 from deep in a 107-103 loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Memphis entered Friday shooting 40.0% from 3-point range through eight games, per Basketball-Reference. It was also averaging 120.5 points, fourth in the NBA.

Jaylen Wells scored 7 points on 2-of-7 shooting and went 1-of-4 from beyond the arc in 25:09. He did not record a rebound and had 2 turnovers and a steal. Wells has started all nine of the Grizzlies’ games this season. Memphis was outscored by 31 points with him on the floor Friday.

His only 3 came with 6:51 left in the third quarter, off a Ty Jerome assist, and cut the Thunder’s lead to 88-61. Wells also had the floater that put Memphis up 16-10 in the first quarter.

Teams know how Memphis runs its offense now, in Wells’ view.

“Just not getting too negative,” Wells said. “Obviously not being positive about a loss, but you can be neutral. Just looking back [at] the film, there’s a lot of things that we can correct on our own end.”

“Even tonight, obviously we [didn’t hit] a lot of shots, and we had a lot of good looks,” Wells continued. “But there’s certain things that, regardless of whether the looks are going in or not, just can’t happen.”

The Grizzlies opened 6-0. Since then they have lost 135-134 in overtime to the New Orleans Pelicans, then to Indiana and Oklahoma City.

Memphis made 18 of 40 3-pointers in the New Orleans loss on Nov. 2.

Through eight games, Wells averaged 11.1 points on 52.4% shooting. He made 35.9% of his 4.9 3-point attempts per game and 79.2% of his two-pointers.

Part of it is the normal up-and-down of a shooter, Wells said.

“I think it could also be just kind of the quality of looks,” Wells explained. “Even though, [tonight], we got good looks. But also gonna be quality of looks.”

“Teams are scouting us now,” Wells added. “They know how we run our offense. So just probably taking away the great shots we were getting and turning [them] into good shots. So just getting back to what we were doing before.”

Cedric Coward entered Friday making 50.0% of his 3s on 5.4 attempts per game. He went 2-of-5. Cam Spencer had been at 55.6% on 3.4 attempts and went 1-of-4.

Cameron Boozer missed all 8 of his 3-point tries. Quinten Post missed all 5 of his, and Kris Murray missed all 3.

Jerome went 2-of-7 from deep on the way to 21 points. Jerami Grant made both of his 3-point attempts off the bench.

Memphis attempted 45 3-pointers and 43 two-pointers Friday. Oklahoma City went 16-of-35 from 3-point range and took 57 two-point shots. Jared McCain made 3 of 8, and Ajay Mitchell made 4 of 7.

Oklahoma City is a great defensive team, Wells said.

“They got a lot of great players,” Wells said. “They move as one on offense, great defensive team ... They’ve been to the finals. They’re a playoff team, and those type of teams, they don’t make mistakes. So everything you do against a team like that is more amplified, and there’s no room for mistakes.”

Memphis committed 18 turnovers, which Oklahoma City turned into 30 points. The Thunder committed 13 and gave up 14 points off them.

Wells is 23 and in his third NBA season. He played college basketball at Sonoma State and Washington State.

Monday’s 6:30 p.m. CT game at Toronto is next for Memphis, followed by Denver at home Wednesday.