22 Jan 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlie’s guard Luke Kennard (10) dunks during the fourth quarter against Charlotte Hornets on FedExforum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Pictures Two NBA teams on different roads will meet Saturday night in Memphis.
Memphis Grizzlies is on the way, after winning five straight with a victory 139-126 over New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Utah Jazz fights after losing four straight and seven of his last eight.
Grizzlies, who leads the league in points average of 123.6 points per match, overwhelmed the pelicans with a strong second half even though they missed twice all-star guard yes morant, who put out with a disease. Top Reserve Santi Aldama was also out with a disease.
A breakout week from reserve guard Luke Kennard has helped grizzlies.
In a victory 132-120 over Charlotte on Wednesday, Kennard came from the bench to get 23 points. He made 7 of his 11 3-point attempts.
With Morant Out, Kennard moved into the starting lineup against the Pelicans and got a season high 27 points. Kennard made 10 out of 14 shots from the field, including 7 out of 9 attempts from long range.
“Luke put a ton in the starting lineup,” said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. “Hans struck 3s was great time.”
Jenkins said that Kennard’s aggressive mentality, overall, led to his increased production.
“He scores in the transition, he makes goals for relocation, he scores of pick-and-role gigs, he also plays in all these situations,” Jenkins said.
Kennard said to be more involved in the crime has helped.
“When you have the ball in your hands, you have to be more focused, try to make the right game, try to be aggressive,” he said. “I think coach knows if I have the ball in my hands, especially early in a game, it makes me go a bit. It gets me into a rhythm.”
Jenkins also supplemented the contributions from the shooter Desmond Bane, who moved into Morant’s vacant point guard and looked at the part. Bane pulled out 14 assists, including eight during the first half, when his shooting was off (1 of 6 from the field).
“Dez was huge with his playing,” Jenkins said. “His shot did not fall in the first half and I said,“ Hello, just keep being aggressive with your play; Your shot will (eventually) fall. “He still got a lot of things to go down, which opened the 3-point line (for teammates).”
Despite the rough stretch of jazz, which has fallen to the last place at the Western conference, Hardy Hardy remains. He has recognized improvement in several areas that others can overlook.
“I’m really, really proud of the team,” Hardy said. “I am really optimistic about our group in the future. I think we show many steps of being able to learn throughout the season.
“I think many players are getting better individually, and I think our collective IQ is growing. Physical mistakes happen. I can live with these. I think we are reducing our mental mistakes.”
Utah comes from a loss of 123-114 to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, a game where Thunder Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got a career high 54 points. The jazz took 23 offensive returns in the loss and received 31 other chance points.
Hardy welcomed Lauri Markkanen and John Collins back against Thunder. Collins had missed the previous five matches with a left hip edition, and Markkanen had been on the side of the previous four with lower back spasms.
Collins led the jazz with 22 points, while Markkanen put in 17. All five starters made in double numbers.
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