Tuomas Iisalo is very angry with his players

One wonders if there is no competition between MavericksClippers, Kings and Grizzlies to find out which team is the sickest, most disappointing team in the Western Conference after three weeks of competition. On Wednesday night, four teams drew the “big game”, so to speak, with losses and, for some, particularly poor performances.

The worst may be for Sacramento, humiliated by the Hawks. But Memphis clearly has nothing to brag about loss to Boston by 36 points. Ja Morant was absent, as were Ty Jerome and Scottie Pippen Jr., but for Tuomas Iisal that’s not enough to explain such poverty.

“We can lose matches, that’s part of the game. But deviating from our identity or the essentials that allow us to win is something we have to correct immediately.”, announcement Grizzlies coach, facing this seventh loss in eight games.

“If we have difficulties in certain games, fine, but it shouldn’t be for lack of effort.” »

Clumsy on offense with just 33% shooting and 23% on 3-pointers, Memphis was also very poor defensively, almost never bothering the Celtics. In short, nothing worked in this part.

“One way to lose is to not shoot. We were in a lot of trouble, even on open 3-point shots. We weren’t putting anything close to the rim.”laments the coach. “At the same time, they shot at a high level of skill. OK, that’s part of basketball and it happens sometimes. The Celtics were everything you want to be: a team that’s faster than the other team, that plays harder, that’s more organized and that’s hard for a coach to swallow. And that should be the case for all players.”

What bothers Tuomas Iisal the most is the lack of effort, the limits shown by his players. “We demolished on rebounds, we gave up almost 40 points.” (exactly 34) in the second chance, when they are not really bigger or more powerful than us”he notes. “In transition, that’s one thing, but even at half court we were late, we couldn’t communicate.”

Even with a few quick timeouts in the first period, the Grizzlies were never able to wake up or show some pride. “We know we can do better. The situation is complicated, with big opponents and, at the same time, absent managers. We have to turn it into motivation. If we are in difficulties in some matches, fine, but it shouldn’t be due to a lack of effort like in this match”concludes the coach.