Grizzlies’ Season on the Line: One Habit Threatening to Derail Their Playoff Hopes
What’s the one habit that could tank the Grizzlies’ season? Discover the surprising answer and find out how this single factor could impact their chances of success.
Can they overcome it and make a deep playoff run? The Grizzlies’ fate might depend on it!
Memphis had a lot of turnovers last season, and they will need to pay more attention to that going forward. Overturns: The Grizzlies had 1,285 during the 2024–25 season, which was the third most of any team in the league.
They had an average of 15.7 mistakes per game. The Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz were the only two other teams with more mistakes.
The high change rate in Memphis was caused by a number of things. The way the Grizzlies like to play was also a role in the statistic, along with how well they handle the ball. Memphis played very quickly.
In fact, with 103.26 plays per game, they were the fastest team in the NBA last season.
In addition to that, they were the second-highest scoring team in the league last season, averaging 121.7 points per game. Playing at a fast pace can certainly help wear down the opposing defenders and increase shot volume, but sometimes it can also lead to more turnovers. The Grizzlies need to figure out how to continue playing at such a fast pace without making costly mistakes.
Turnover nightmares in games that mattered
Despite their turnover issues, Memphis was able to remain toward the top of the Western Conference standings for most of the regular season last year, as these turnovers were frequently offset by high shot volume and scoring.
In some games, though, these mistakes caught up with them, and they couldn’t get back on track after falling behind.
One of the highest turnover games last season for the Grizzlies was against the New York Knicks on January 27th, 2025. In this game, Memphis recorded 26 total turnovers and lost by 37 points.
How many points did the Knicks get from these turnovers? 36! That’s right, the Grizzlies lost by almost the same number of points that New York scored off of turnovers.
The vast majority of these turnovers were the result of a bad pass or lost ball, which shows the team was just not on the same page that night.
On March 3rd, 2025, the Grizzlies fell 132-130 to the Atlanta Hawks in heartbreaking fashion when Caris LeVert hit a last-second buzzer beater.
This game arguably should not have been that close, but Memphis had 19 turnovers, which led to 29 Atlanta points. With fewer turnovers, the game could’ve easily swung in the Grizzlies’ favor.
What made things even worse was that Memphis lost their third straight game because of a buzzer-beater.
This added to their anger during a very rough stretch of the season. Jaren Jackson Jr. hurt his ankle early in the game, but the rest of the team set themselves up to win if they hadn’t turned the ball over so many times.
Next season’s to-do list starts with limiting turnovers
Now the team is getting ready for next season, and hopefully addressing turnovers is high up on Tuomas Iisalo’s priority list.
Having a lower number of turnovers doesn’t guarantee a win, but it is an important part of any successful team’s game plan.
Although Memphis’ fast pace does lead to a lot of turnovers, the team needs to figure out how to maintain its tempo while also making better decisions with the ball.
If the Grizzlies can master this, they will be a difficult team to contain for 48 minutes.
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