It will be intriguing to see where the Memphis Grizzlies end up at this year’s trade deadline. After Ja Morant’s season-ending ιnjury, Memphis is probably no longer a playoff contender and is, at most, a marginal play-in club. Nevertheless, Memphis stands out from the majority of teams in the standings because, when healthy, they are unquestionably a playoff club.

It’s difficult to forecast how the Grizzlies will approach the deadline because this is where they are right now. Do contenders want Memphis’ role players, therefore does Memphis decide to deal some of them? Or should they make changes and add players who can aid in assembling a team around Morant for the upcoming campaign?

Memphis’ best option appears to be to retain onto the players who are most likely to assist them compete in the upcoming season and deal solely with those players from their group who do not appear to be in a completely healthy rotation next year. Among them is the adaptable guard John Konchar, who ESPN’s Bobby Marks suggested the Boston Celtics could consider:

Konchar is a fantastic athlete and defender even though his оffensive potential is limited. Nevertheless, he is probably behind a number of Grizzlies guards in a healthy rotation, thus Memphis might decide to move him now while his value to a contender might result in something that might assist Memphis retool for the next year.

CELTICS’ RESOLVE TOPS OUR TAKEAWAYS FROM 119-110 WIN OVER MAVERICKS

They proved on Monday night that they are unfazed by anything, even though more than half of the season has passed.

They were at American Airlines Center for the second night of back-to-back games. Kristaps Porzingis, who had put up 32 points the previous evening in Houston, was not with them.

Their third game in four nights was this one.

There are many reasons to feel unbalanced.

They then outscored the Mavericks 41 points in the second quarter and made numerous plays to sustain their lead as they won 119-110.

“I didn’t realize it was a back-to-back,” said Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics coach. “I couldn’t tell just by watching our guys compete. They deserve credit for that.

And for the majority of the season, that has been the Celtics’ approach. They consistently play with intensity and, for the most part, skill.

A 30–14 free-throw difference and dissatisfaction with some official calls hurt the Mavericks. However, that is a necessary component of progress. The Mavericks’ defense was targeted by the Celtics in an effort to disrupt Luka Dončić, which led to several ineffective mismatches for the team.

Coach Jason Kidd stated, “We were a little bit frustrated with the officiating and we lost our focus.” And we needed to improve. After missing their opening three-pointers, they began to establish a rhythm. We need to improve our defense.

Regarding the way the Celtics assaulted the Mavericks, Kyrie Irving stated:

“Luka needs our assistance, especially when he’s performing so brilliantly in the first half. We just need to be able to pick him up on the defensive end and make sure we’re there to help each other. In the second half, I thought we could have given him a lot more assistance and he was forcing it a little, like every other great scorer in our league does.

Other lessons we learned from the loss:

A difficult evening at work: Dončić was equally disheartened by his performance and аmаzed by the manner the Celtics countered him. “They have an incredible team, but I missed a lot of layups,” he remarked. “They have two guys who can play basketball really well, a strong defense, and they are the top team in the NBA.” They rank #1 for this reason. It was simply not my night. They play excellent defense, but they also play excellent offense.

Irving was Һit: Following the game, Irving had X-rays taken of his right thumb. He injured it during the game’s opening possession while defending Jayson Tatum, but he managed to play through it albeit not as well as he would have liked. Irving’s extended absences are unaffordable for the Mavericks. “It comes with the territory in this physical, combative game, and I don’t want to take these little injuries,” he remarked. “It will cause pаin.” Nobody in the NBA, in my opinion, is 100% consistent from night to night. All you have to do is keep going. Irving’s thumb was assessed as sprained.

False numbers: Dončić’s score was 33. Irving possessed twenty-three. That is a total of 56 points. To earn those points, 50 shots were required. Tatum and Jaylen Brown combined for 73 points from 43 shots. That is all the information you require regarding the defensive performances of both sides.

Impressive stats: Dončić recorded his 38th career 30-point triple-double, but he later acknowledged that “I played badly.” The fact that the sixth-year point guard “played bad” and yet finished with 33 points, a season-high 18 rebounds, and 13 assists is very impressive.