Grizzlies fall to 0-4 in bubble, lose 124-115 to Jazz

The Memphis Grizzlies need a victory in the baddest way. Memphis is 0-3 to start the NBA bubble restart and is losing grip on the 8-seed in the West. The Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs are right on the Grizzlies’ tail in the standings. So Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Utah Jazz is v important, fam.

Rookie of the Year favorite Ja Morant ($8,000) is putting the team on his back early on, scoring six points with five assists, two rebounds and two steals for 20 DKFP through one quarter of play. For some reason, nobody believed Morant would step up with Jaren Jackson Jr. (knee) done for the season. Morant is only 15.4% owned in the $4 20-max GPP on DraftKings this afternoon. We’ll be keeping an eye on his stats the rest of the way, plus more DFS analysis.

5:15, Final Jazz 124, Grizzlies 115 — Memphis has fallen to 0-4 in the bubble and only has a 1.0 game lead on the Portland Trail Blazers for the No. 8 seed in the West. Brooks went scoreless in the second half and Morant struggled again from the field. Clarke was non-existent as a chalk play in DFS. It can’t get much worse for Memphis right now.

The Jazz picked up a much-needed win to move ahead of the Rockets for the No. 4 spot in the West at 43-25. Gobert finished with a game-high 51.75 DKFP on 21 points and 15 rebounds. Ingles and Conley each scored over 23 points to hit the flames on DK. Even Royce O’Neale added 15-7-3 for 32.25 DKFP at $5K.

Check out the DK Live scoreboard here for box scores and fantasy scoring from UTA-MEM.

4:30, Third quarter update — The Jazz have a one-point lead heading into the final frame, 89-88. So this has been the perfect fantasy environment so far and the scores reflect it. Gobert is up to a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds for 46 DKFP. Morant came alive a bit in the third and has 18 points and 6 assists for 34.75 DKFP. Brooks went ice cold and is still at 23 points and 28 DKFP, which is fine given his price. It should be a solid fourth quarter!

3:45, Halftime update — Before we get into things, let’s run down the leaderboard after the first half:

Gobert ($7.3K) — 14 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, 28.5 DKFP
Brooks ($5.2K) — 20 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 25.5 DKFP
Mike Conley ($5.8K) — 10 points, 6 assists, 23.5 DKFP
Morant ($8K) — 7 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 20.5 DKFP
Joe Ingles ($5.3K) — 10 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 19.75 DKFP

So Brooks caught fire in the second quarter, but the Grizzlies didn’t get much help from anyone else. Morant was quiet before halftime. Brandon Clarke ($4.6K) chalk is blowing up in everyone’s faces right now. He only has 11 DKFP. The Jazz lead 64-55 at the half after trailing for most of the first quarter.

3:25 p.m. — We’ve got a Dillon Brooks heat check! Brooks ($5,200) is up to 15 points about mid-way through the second quarter to lead all scorers. He’s up to 20 DKFP to tie Morant atop the DK leaderboard early on. Rudy Gobert ($7,300) also went underowned in the $4 GPP at 7.2% and is on pace for 20-20. He’s up to 8 points, 8 rebounds and 20.5 DKFP, now in front of Ja and Brooks.