Are the Memphis Grizzlies actually better without Ja Morant?

One of the biggest stories over the last two weeks has been about the red hot Memphis Grizzlies. Winners of six of their last seven games, the Grizzlies have gone on this hot streak without their star player Ja Morant, who has not played since November 26 because of a knee injury, and has since entered coronavirus health and safety protocols according to Cassandra Negley of Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday.

Is it a coincidence that the Grizzlies are playing their best basketball of the season without Morant? According to Bally Sports West, the Grizzlies were the worst team in the NBA defensively prior to Morant getting hurt. They were averaging 116.4 points against. Over this seven game stretch, the Grizzlies have only given up 92.9 points against, which is a significant drop of 23.5 points per game.

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The Grizzlies are also scoring more points too. With Morant in the lineup, the Grizzlies were scoring 109.7 points per game. In the seven games without Morant, they have averaged 112 points per game. The most significant Grizzlies win came on December 2, when they outscored the Oklahoma City Thunder 152-79 in the most dominant win by a team in one game in NBA history.

Also during the streak, the Grizzlies played five consecutive games without even surrendering the lead throughout the entire 48 minutes. That’s right. They were never behind for a 240 minute stretch.

This is not to say that the Grizzlies are a better team throughout an entire 82 game season without Morant. But so far this season, during a relatively small sample size, they have been.

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