NBA Power Rankings: Everything revolves around LeBron James

The Grizzlies continued their downward spiral to the draft lottery, closing out a road trip with a loss to the Hawks, and then returning home to get defeated by the Jazz. The Grizzlies didn’t win a single quarter against the Hawks, finding themselves down by seven points at the end of the first quarter. They were down by 34 points in the second half, plagued by a season-high in turnovers with 27. The Grizzlies weren’t able to hang with the Jazz on the second night of a back to back, losing 92-88 in a game where the Jazz were able to stay just out of arm’s reach. Marc Gasol had 20 points, but the Grizzlies were without Tyreke Evans, as they were attempting to find a trade partner for the veteran guard.

The trade deadline came and passed without a deal for Evans, another blunder in a series of missteps by the Memphis front office. The Grizzlies were thumped by the Thunder on Sunday, 110-92, losing by 18 despite the Thunder sitting Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. They’re the proud owners of a six-game losing streak, and there doesn’t appear to be any relief on the horizon. This is the end of a tier of really bad teams, and the Grizzlies floated to the top.