Bench firepower ignites Memphis' winning streak. Elite defense and newfound depth propel the Grizzlies forward as they hit their midseason stride.
The Memphis Grizzlies’ latest win wasn’t just another step forward. It marked a turning point for a team clawing back toward stability after a grueling, injury-filled opening stretch.
Memphis extended its recent surge with a 119-96 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 7 at FedExForum, a performance fueled by the NBA’s highest-scoring bench and an improving defensive identity. The Grizzlies (11-13) have now won seven of their last nine games, finding traction after navigating one of the league’s most compressed early schedules.
The victory came at an ideal time. With the NBA Cup playoffs underway, the Grizzlies are among the 22 non-qualifying teams who won’t play again until later in the week. After being forced to play 24 games in 47 days — a front-loaded slate built around the team’s upcoming Europe Games trip to Germany and London in January — Memphis enters a rare four-day reset.
Head coach Tuomas Iisalo said the timing allows the team to address both rest and development.
“It’s a very unique situation, so our schedule has been a bit more packed than other teams because we have to make up for those couple of weeks (ahead of January),” Iisalo said. “We look at it as, ‘Let’s individualize the training a little more.’ So, it’s a chance for some guys to recover a bit. Whereas for other guys, it’s a great chance to get some much-needed work in. Then, we bring the whole group back to an equilibrium.”
The team has already begun to find that balance. Against Portland, the Grizzlies’ reserves delivered a season-high 69 points, outscoring the Blazers’ bench 69-35. Santi Aldama led Memphis with 22 points, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added a season-best 16 and Cam Spencer recorded 12 points and a team-high six assists. Memphis leads the league in bench production at 49 points per game, nearly six points ahead of the next closest team.
“The ball is moving,” Caldwell-Pope said. “It’s not really staying in one person’s hands for a long period of time. And just playing together, playing for each other. That’s how that chemistry is being built out there.”
Memphis also continued its recent defensive climb. The Grizzlies held consecutive opponents below 100 points for just the second time this season and kept both the Clippers and Blazers under 20 points in the fourth quarter over the weekend. Over the past 10 games, Memphis ranks fifth in defensive rating, first in rebounding, and sixth in net rating — a dramatic rise from its struggles a month earlier.
“We’ve definitely made some adjustments, and I think it’s been working,” Jaylen Wells said. “We play very aggressively and we have elite defenders, with Zach (Edey) and Jaren (Jackson Jr.) at the rim, and then me, Vince (Williams Jr.) and Cedric (Coward) can guard the best players and ball-handlers. So, it all just kind of goes as one, just wear teams down throughout those first three quarters.”
The frontcourt rotation also continued to evolve. Edey finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out, while Jock Landale added 15 points and eight rebounds. Their differing styles require in-game adjustments from teammates.
“When you got a guy driving to the paint and Zach’s on the floor, I’m probably not trying to do any type of swipe at the ball or anything,” Wells said. “Jock obviously isn’t 7-foot-4, so I might be a little more aggressive on that.”
Jaren Jackson Jr. again made his impact primarily on defense. He scored six points on 3-for-10 shooting but added three steals, two blocks and four assists. It was his second single-digit scoring night in three games after reaching that mark only once last season.
Iisalo said Jackson’s offensive production will return as the game continues to flow through him.
“There are several components there, but he’s a great player,” Iisalo said. “He’s a very good player on the perimeter, (and) a very good player on the inside. It’s just a matter of time that it opens up again.”
Memphis expects to get Ja Morant back from a right calf strain when it returns to action Friday against Utah. The Grizzlies also enter a stretch in December in which eight of their 12 games come against opponents with losing records, offering an opportunity to climb toward .500 after starting the season 1-10 against teams at or above .500.
“Obviously, we’ve got to show that same level of intensity and successfulness against the better teams in our conference,” Wells said. “So, it’s just keeping it consistent and believing in what we’re doing. This is a great time now to just go in and find those nitpicky things you can’t change when you’re playing day after day. But now, we can dive into the film, get a little rest and we’ll probably get some players back.”
After grinding through the most demanding stretch of their schedule, the Grizzlies now finally have space to breathe — and, potentially, to build. With depth emerging as a defining strength and defensive consistency taking hold, Memphis enters its brief midseason break looking more like a team prepared to climb than one just trying to endure.