First off, The Athletic is definitely worth a subscription. Tons of great NBA content and the occasional Grizz article. Here are some excerpts…
The Grizzlies were 20th in defense when Jackson came back; since then, they’re first with a bullet, holding opponents to just 107.1 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com — a full 1.2 points ahead of second-place Cleveland in that stretch.
In a related story, offenses are starving in his minutes, with a meager 101.5 offensive rating, which ranks six points better than Cleveland’s league-leading figure.
He’s rejecting 5.8 shots per 100 possessions this season, the most in the league by a mile; nobody else with more than 20 minutes played is above 5.0.
The last player to play at least 500 minutes in a season and block as many shots per 100 possessions as Jackson was Hassan Whiteside in 2015-16.
The Grizzlies benefit hugely from having a small forward in Dillon Brooks who is able to size up and guard some elite perimeter fours like Williamson or Pascal Siakam (to whom Brooks gave the bamboo-under-fingernails treatment in Memphis’ win Thursday in Toronto).
Few teams can match up somebody against the Zions or LeBrons of the league and still have two bigs waiting for them at the rim, as Memphis did in Williamson’s nine-turnover nightmare Saturday night. Put together, the results have been devastating. With Brooks and Jackson on the floor together, opponents are shooting a comical 39.2 percent on the season. Small sample size and all that, but the visual backs it up. You can’t score on these guys inside the arc.
Is this the cheat code that propels the Grizzlies to the top of the West? Time will tell. But at this juncture, Memphis’ suffocating defense since Jackson’s return is the biggest story that nobody in the league is talking about.
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First off, The Athletic is definitely worth a subscription. Tons of great NBA content and the occasional Grizz article. Here are some excerpts…
The Grizzlies were 20th in defense when Jackson came back; since then, they’re first with a bullet, holding opponents to just 107.1 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com — a full 1.2 points ahead of second-place Cleveland in that stretch.
In a related story, offenses are starving in his minutes, with a meager 101.5 offensive rating, which ranks six points better than Cleveland’s league-leading figure.
He’s rejecting 5.8 shots per 100 possessions this season, the most in the league by a mile; nobody else with more than 20 minutes played is above 5.0.
The last player to play at least 500 minutes in a season and block as many shots per 100 possessions as Jackson was Hassan Whiteside in 2015-16.
The Grizzlies benefit hugely from having a small forward in Dillon Brooks who is able to size up and guard some elite perimeter fours like Williamson or Pascal Siakam (to whom Brooks gave the bamboo-under-fingernails treatment in Memphis’ win Thursday in Toronto).
Few teams can match up somebody against the Zions or LeBrons of the league and still have two bigs waiting for them at the rim, as Memphis did in Williamson’s nine-turnover nightmare Saturday night.
Put together, the results have been devastating. With Brooks and Jackson on the floor together, opponents are shooting a comical 39.2 percent on the season. Small sample size and all that, but the visual backs it up. You can’t score on these guys inside the arc.
Is this the cheat code that propels the Grizzlies to the top of the West? Time will tell. But at this juncture, Memphis’ suffocating defense since Jackson’s return is the biggest story that nobody in the league is talking about.