The Memphis Grizzlies‘ 2017-18 season can’t be going much worse. Mike Conley‘s year came to an end after only appearing in 12 games due to heel surgery, and in the aftermath, the team’s season has completely gone down the tubes. Memphis is tied for the worst record in the league at 19-53, and things have been so rough that Marc Gasol has straight up said he’s frustrated with the organization.
Things hit an absolute low point on Thursday night, when the team got throttled by the Charlotte Hornets. The Grizzlies walked into Charlotte and lost, 140-79, and Kemba Walker went for 46 points in 28 minutes. Losing by 61 points is brutal, but the good news is that Memphis didn’t seem too fazed by it.
According to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal, the team kept spirits high in the locker room after the loss.
Bickerstaff nor Gasol were in the locker room when it opened for media after the game. Perhaps that was a good thing because several Grizzlies players didn’t appear to take the loss hard given the amount of laughter and joking between them.
This, obviously, isn’t the best look in the eyes of those who want players to take losses seriously. But it’s also a weird thing to balance — this season is obviously a lost one for the organization, and as long as losses are being taken as learning experiences, how would the players be better off if they sulked around and got angry after the clock hit zero?
This will forever be a back-and-forth among basketball fans, and there’s really no correct answer for how a team should react to losing by 61 points. It’s a weird situation, but everything has been weird in Memphis this year.
