Postgame Report: Memphis cruises past Charlotte to cap-off 2-1 road trip

On execution on both sides of the ball:

It definitely started with our defense.  I challenged the guys after the Boston game and coming in to this one, it’s got to start there.  That’s how you create your juice and your energy, night in and night out.  To hold a team that can score at a high level under 30 points in all four quarters, come out win the first three quarters I thought was huge.  We talked about it before the game, a team that’ sreally good transition, to limit them to only eight fast-break points.  I thought our on-ball defense, our transition defense was great, just our collective team defense, that’s what we’ve been challenging these guys with night in and night out. I think that really just set the tone for us and then the carry over from practices and film sessions to play the right way. This is an aggressive defense and I thought we did a great job with our pace and pick-and-roll, and sharing the ball, 34 assists.  This is the Grizzlies that you are used to, we ended up making 14 threes, 34 assists, that’s a lot of buckets inside the three point line that we created.  I thought there was great spacing, great ball movement, great execution, both ends of the ball and great effort up and down the entire roster.  So much contribution from all nine guys that played.

Taylor Jenkins

On the team depth:

I told the guys at the beginning of the season, it’s a one-day at a time approach. 72 games in the regular season is a really long time and we are building something day after day. Being down a few guys, it’s the next man up mentality. It’s the same message that we drive to these guys, I talk about the work that they put in every single day even though we don’t have  a lot of guys in practice sometimes we still try to accomplish things from a team standpoint.  The individual guys getting their work, to come on the road trip and get a win in Boston and then finish with a big win here on the road speaks volumes to the togetherness of this team and the keep fighting mentality. We just take it one day at a time and we have another tough one on Sunday, but they just relish every opportunity to compete together.  And if we can play like that night in and night out you give yourself a chance to win a lot of ball games.

Taylor Jenkins

On what changed from the Boston game to tonight:

I would say that the game versus Boston, that just wasn’t our best effort at all. We watched film and we saw so many errors. Even though Jaylen Brown was super hot there were still a lot of things that we could change. We just thought as a team that we didn’t really play hard. We came out tonight and changed up that mindset and wanted to come out and play hard and that’s what we were able to do tonight.

Brandon Clarke

On your comfort level starting tonight:

Last year, any time I started, something bad happened I feel like. I feel like I got hurt or we lost and I wasn’t able to get in the flow of it, so it felt good to be able to actually come out and play somewhat well tonight. I feel like either way, I am going to come out and play hard off the bench or if I start. I feel like I am able to do either one of them just fine.

Brandon Clarke

On moving the ball well tonight without Ja Morant:

It was huge really because when you lose a player like Ja (Morant), there would be some teams that really struggle afterwards because Ja was such a big part of our team. But we kind of learned from those first two games and learn how to play together. I think we have like 34 or 33 assists - I think Tyus (Jones) had 14 – that just shows that we were able to figure it out and figure out how to play together and still pass well without having Ja, one of the best passers in the league.

Brandon Clarke

On what changed from the Boston game to tonight:

We just learned, I guess from their shifts, they play the same defensive style, aggressive in passing lanes, so I guess we learned from that experience. We took care of the basketball. We pushed in transition and we got a lot of deflections and a lot of steals that pushed into our transitions. I feel like we just took a little bit from film like you said, limiting turnovers, making the right passes and seeing the right reads and then we performed it today.

Dillon Brooks

On moving the ball well tonight without Ja Morant:

“We are a team where it is the next man up. Guys are ready. We play hard in practice, training camp, guys are confident. We endorse confidence and competed and our front office only gets guys that compete and that want to play and wait for the opportunity and seize it. Great game by John (Konchar). Great game by Des (Bane) again, Tyus (Jones) controlling the pace. JV (Jonas Valanciunas) being big in there and Gorgui (Dieng) playing well and playing confident, playing his game. We need that every time out.”

Dillon Brooks