The Memphis Grizzlies Take A Tough Loss Against A Philadelphia 76ers Team With It's Back Against The Wall

The Philadelphia 76ers entered Friday night's contest against the Memphis Grizzlies losers of four-straight games. They were starting to get criticism from both national and local media as well as 76ers Head Coach Brett Brown and star center Joel Embiid being booed by the home town fans during their introductions. The Grizzlies had a chance to extend the 76ers losing streak to five games with their backs against the wall, leading by as many as 33 points, Philadelphia would defeat the Grizzlies in convincing fashion 119-107.

76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz would have a surprise career night against the Grizzlies with 34 points in 29 minutes off the bench. He also went 7 of 9 from three-point range. Ja Morant would lead the Grizzlies with 15 points, 6 assists, and 3 rebounds but his teammates Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillon Brooks had disappointing performances combing for 15 points total. The Grizzlies had a poor shooting night only completing on 40.9 percent of their shots from the field and 23.8 percent from three-point range.

My Take On The Grizzlies Loss To The Sixers

Memphis Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins On His Teams Performance

Tonight, they (Philadelphia) came out and set the tone defensively which really took us out of our game, especially getting into the paint," Jenkins said. "We couldn’t really get anything going. I thought Simmons, and obviously Korkmaz, had an unbelievable game. We just didn’t really have an answer, so credit to them. But proud of our guys in the fourth quarter to kind of dig down and have some fight. But they all recognize that we definitely need to be a whole lot better from the start."

Jenkins On His Team's Mental Preparation For The Game

"We talked so much about how there’s gotta be individual pride, especially with the pace of play and how Simmons plays," said Jenkins. "We knew there was going to be a physicality behind this game, whether Embiid’s on the floor or not. They took full advantage and then you get the guys shooting the three at a high level. Obviously, Horford in the second half, that fourth quarter, when we were kind of making a run, he kind of just cemented the win for them. So, when you’ve got that balance of playing with force and getting downhill, and then you can back it up with some big-time three-point shooting, it makes it tough to get through."

On The Team’s Mentality Before Their Last Two Games Heading Into The All-Star Break

"We've just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing for the most part of the season, especially with this recent stretch here, month-plus," Jenkins said. "We've just got to get better and that’s the main focus. Our guys have been competing at a pretty high level. In selfishness, there’s definitely things we’ve got to clean up. We've been trending a little better defensively. Tonight, we just didn’t have it, but how can we just be more consistent and that’s that ‘get better’ mentality. We’ll have a film session tomorrow, we've got two more games and we’ll just continue to make steps in a positive direction. I think we have like 28 games or so after the All-Star break and that’s when everyone, not just us, all teams are taking it to another level and we’ve got to recognize that. But we’ve still got two games left to go make some push here."

The Grizzlies (26-26) now prepare for their next matchup against the Washington Wizards (18-32), Sunday on the road.