Tuomas Iisalo Calls Zach Edey's Foul Trouble 'Valuable Experience'

Zach Edey fouled out with 2:33 left in overtime Monday night, his sixth foul a loose-ball call, and the Memphis Grizzlies lost 135-134 to the New Orleans Pelicans for their first loss of the season.

Edey played 19:24 and finished with six points, nine rebounds, and two blocks. Six of his rebounds came on the offensive glass. No other player in the game had more than four. Memphis was outscored by 10 with him on the floor.

Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo said he had already checked the video of the final possession by the time he spoke.

"I tend to avoid assessing too much directly after the game," Iisalo said. "Better to watch the video of that. I thought he had a couple of unnecessary fouls today, and those were avoidable. A couple of biting on pump fakes and putting himself at a disadvantage there. He's going to clean that up. It's a valuable experience for him. He hasn't even, I think he hasn't played like one full season worth of games yet in the NBA. So there's a lot to learn."

"I'm just very proud of our — I think we're the second-youngest team in the league, and we find ways also in the crunch time to still play smart basketball, get the ball to the guys that we want and get to the situations we need them," Iisalo continued. "And sometimes the game is going to go in this direction."

Edey's first basket was a cutting dunk off a Ty Jerome pass at 8:40 of the first quarter, about a minute after he blocked a Trey Murphy III floater.

Edey's first foul came at 7:00 of the first quarter, when he fouled Karlo Matković on a shot. He picked up his second at 11:04 of the second quarter, a loose-ball foul 19 seconds later, and a fourth at 7:37 of the second quarter.

That sent him to the bench with four fouls and 9:23 played in the first half.

His fifth came at 10:09 of the third quarter. Zion Williamson scored on a putback dunk, and Edey fouled him on the play. Isaiah Stewart replaced him.

Edey played 5:43 in the fourth quarter without a foul. He made two free throws at 8:25 and blocked a Derik Queen layup at 9:22. He also missed a layup and a 3-foot hook in a 26-second span midway through the quarter.

His sixth came 2:27 into overtime. Stewart replaced him again.

The Pelicans started Matković at center, and Matković made 5-of-8 3-point attempts on his way to 25 points. Queen, who came off the bench, scored 20, including 18 in the first half.

Iisalo said generating paint touches and high-quality rim attempts is one of the things the Pelicans do really well.

"I think there's advantages and disadvantages, and this is part of the growth process for everybody, for the whole team and for Zach also," Iisalo explained. "We are not a fully formed contender. We are in the rebuilding phase, and we're off to a great start with that. And these are exactly the type of experiences that then unveil the stuff that we still got to get better at and collectively solve."

"And it's not just on Zach," Iisalo continued. "Zach has a lot of help responsibility on defense. So some of those situations that might look to the fans or to the reporters like Zach should rotate out, maybe he was the primary help in that situation and somebody didn't have his back. That's why I tend not to analyze too much or critique players directly after the game, because once you look at it, a lot of times you'll see that your eyes were lying to you during the game and it was somebody else's responsibility, maybe."

Edey was limited to 11 games last season after multiple ankle procedures. He missed the Grizzlies' Oct. 25 win at Sacramento for left ankle injury management.

The Pelicans finished with 10 more field-goal attempts than Memphis and a 22-9 edge in second-chance points. They also outscored Memphis 62-54 in the paint.

Iisalo's message to the team was that Memphis is on a great path and has no reason to put its head down.

"But for us overall, these are valuable growth experiences, even though everybody in that locker room is very hurt," Iisalo said. "We had a chance to push this to a 7-0 start. That's not the case, and this is basketball. We've had a few games where the ball has bounced our way, and that's how it works."

Earlier in the season, Iisalo said the then-unbeaten Grizzlies were building something new.

The 6-1 Grizzlies are back at FedExForum on Wednesday against the Indiana Pacers, with tip-off set for 7 p.m. CT.