Morant struggles again, and other takeaways from loss to Thunder

After a potentially feel-good win against the Dallas Mavericks, it all came crashing down for the Memphis Grizzlies in another flat performance for a decisive 114-100 loss against the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night.

So what went wrong? Did anything go...right? Here's a few takeaways and observations after the Grizz fall to 4-7 for the season.

1. Memphis opened strong, then sputtered once again in the second half

The defending champs took their time to really get going, and the home team set the tone early with a 33-25 first quarter result. Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jaylen Wells were hitting early buckets, and Memphis repeatedly got clean pull-ups and drive-and-kicks.

But by halftime the offense had completely collapsed, with just 18 points scored in the third quarter in a stretch where the Thunder began to pull away. While the Grizzlies were missing shot after shot, Shai Gilgeous Alexander controlled the pace with drives, pull-ups, and a steady diet of step-backs. There was little resistance from the Memphis frontline as SGA repeatedly got into the lane for a steady diet of layups or drawn fouls.

2. Another night where Ja Morant's playmaking was there, but not much else

Ja Morant takes a break in the third quarter of the Thunder-Grizzlies game. — Nov 9, 2025; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant (12) lays on the court during the third quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

All eyes were once again on the moody Morant, who notched a game-high eight assists highlighted by some nifty, dare we say vintage, over-the-head passes and setups for Jaylen Wells, Santi Aldama, and Jackson Jr. Things were good.

The Thunder soon made adjustments; they walled off driving lanes in the second half, forcing Morant into contested jumpers and this season, putting aside all the drama, it's been simply a huge struggle for him. Finishing with a horrific 3-18 shooting, good for a whopping 16.7 field goal percentage, he missed mutiple floaters, several mid-range jumpers and repeated deep threes.

3. Speaking of deep threes and offense stagnation...

As the Thunder defense tightened as the night wore on, Memphis leaned more heavily into contested perimeter shots rather than downhill actions. A familiar story to be sure.

To make matters worse, these long, early threes repeatedly led to OKC transition opportunities. Inside the paint, the Thunder bigs kept winning second-chance battles, including several offensive rebounds that led to immediate scores.

All the while, the Grizz kept missing from the outside. The third-quarter drought highlighted Memphis’ over reliance on tough shot-making when the offense becomes stagnant.

Morant missed numerous pull-up threes from 25–29 feet. Wells, Cedric Coward, and Aldama each had long stretches of missed attempts and Jackson Jr. hit some early from deep but finished with multiple missed threes late from 25–27 feet.

Bottom line, the offensive trend was rising difficulty coupled with falling efficiency, led primarily by Morant.

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