NBA Power Rankings: Here comes the trade deadline

The Grizzlies had a bit of a down week after a nice month of January, defeating the Suns in their first game of the week but losing to the Pacers, Pistons and Raptors as they continue to struggle on the road. They had a big game from Tyreke Evans against Phoenix, with the veteran guard scoring 27 points to help secure a 120-109 win on Marc Gasol’s birthday. It looks that will be the last game Evans plays for the Grizzlies unless they can’t find a team willing to trade for him, because he was benched for the remainder of the week to help make sure he doesn’t get hurt prior to the deadline.

Wayne Selden Jr. and Gasol both missed shots in the final seconds against the Pacers, with Selden getting ejected after vehemently disagreeing about the decision to not call a foul on his shot, and the Grizzlies lost 105-101. They went down to the wire against the Pistons, but Gasol wasn’t able to get a basket with new Piston Blake Griffin guarding him. The Pistons made their free throws and the Grizzlies ran out of time in a 104-102 loss. The Grizzlies didn’t have to worry about end of game execution against the Raptors, with Toronto winning easily, 101-86. The X-factor in that game was the play of the Raptors bench, who outscored the Grizzlies bench 52-19, helping bring energy to a game that had a noon ET tip-off to accommodate the Super Bowl.