Game Preview: Nets Close Out The Road Trip In Memphis

The Brooklyn Nets saw what “worse” looked like on Wednesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Brooklyn certainly has its issues, but they pale in comparison to the nightmare New Orleans fans have to sit through right now. The Nets cruised to a 145-111 blowout victory. Yeesh.

Tonight’s opponent, however, has been one of the pleasant surprises of the 2026-27 NBA season. The Memphis Grizzlies enter Saturday at 8-4 and in great shape — though, much like Brooklyn, they just beat the stuffing out of those same Pelicans, rolling to a 142-111 win last night. My goodness.

Game Info & Broadcast Details

• Matchup: Brooklyn Nets (3-8) at Memphis Grizzlies (8-4)
• Time: 8:00 p.m. ET (7:00 p.m. CT)
• TV: YES Network
• Streaming: YES App, NBA League Pass
• Radio: WFAN 101.9 FM / 660 AM

Nets vs. Grizzlies Injury Report

Brooklyn Nets

• Probable – Nolan Traore (right calf soreness/tightness)
• Questionable – Mikel Brown Jr (illness)
• OUT – Joshua Jefferson (G League Assignment)
• OUT – Ben Saraf (G League Assignment)
• OUT – Tyler Bilodeau (G League – Two-Way)
• OUT – Grant Nelson (G League – Two-Way)

Memphis Grizzlies

• OUT – Zach Edey (left ankle injury management)
• OUT – Scotty Pippen Jr (lumbar disc herniation)
• OUT – Quinten Post (concussion protocol)
• OUT – Richie Saunders (right knee surgery)

The Game

This is night two of a back-to-back for the Grizzlies. However, nobody played over 30 minutes last night so theoretically everyone should be good to go. We’ll see.

Grizzlies head coach Tuomas Iisalo has this offense humming this season, and this breakdown by Adam Pike dives into some of his favorite actions. He’s earned complete buy-in from this young roster, and the early results have been promising so far.

Memphis’ most promising cornerstone is someone the franchise hopes carries them into the next generation. Rookie Cameron Boozer adjusted to the NBA seamlessly and somehow still has plenty of room to grow. He’s second among rookies in assists per game, a pretty impressive feat for a power forward, alongside 9.8 rebounds a night. And watching Boozer also makes me realize I watched his dad’s journey from college at Duke all the way to the pros and beyond. Time flies, man.

Boozer will draw plenty of Julius Randle. After Wednesday’s win, Randle praised the organization and structure of Brooklyn’s offense. It also helped that they only committed 15 turnovers as a team, their second lowest amount this season. When you actually get shots up at the rim, good things tend to happen.

Brooklyn will need a big night out of Day’ron Sharpe to steal a road win. Memphis is third in the NBA in rebounding (47.9 RPG) this season, and Sharpe is still Brooklyn’s best weapon on the glass. Sharpe has been steady this year and the Nets are going to need him to hold Boozer, Isaiah Stewart, and the rest of the Grizzlies’ frontcourt off the offensive boards.

Sounds like a tall task.

There are two schools of thought related to Egor Demin. One is to praise for maintaining good three-point percentages while taking a high volume of threes when he’s on the court. That success can carry him a long way and guarantee he’s always on the court. The other is to express worry that he hasn’t been getting to the rim at rates that make the defense worry about him inside the arc.

As of this writing, he’s averaging six drives to the rim per game and his frequency of shots at the rim is greater than what it was last year. However, it’s only seven shots at the rim so you can’t read that much into it.

Demin is going to have to add more to his game if he wants to reach that next level. And we’ll see if tonight’s the night Demin and Mikel Brown Jr get real minutes on the court tonight.

MBJ is listed as questionable, so we’ll see if he’s back out there. It’s been a frustrating experience for a lot of Nets fans, and it’s understandable. This team has to figure out what their future is and fast, and that comes with getting your youngsters real minutes together so you can properly evaluate what’s working and what’s not.

You gotta see what you actually got.

Player to Watch: Ty Jerome

It’s always fun watching a player’s steady ascent pay off. Ty Jerome has been an analytics-crowd favorite for the past couple of seasons, and this year he’s putting it all together. He’s averaging a career high 25.4 points and 5.3 assists per game and is outpacing other franchise cornerstones such as Cade Cunningham and Nikola Jokic.

Even as the Griz kids gain more experience, Jerome will be essential to their growth remains the engine making it work. From Maxwell Ogden at Beale Street Bears:

“As a proven sharpshooter and shot creator, Jerome can play with just about any combination of his teammates. He’s just as lethal when working off of scorers and playmakers as he is when he creates his own shots. Furthermore, his mere presence on the court means defenses have to relax the attention they give to the less experienced Grizzlies players.”

I’m a sucker for rewarding career role players with All-Star appearances when they’re having career years, so I’m hoping Jerome gets the nod this winter.

From the Vault

Viva La Raza!

More reading: Beale Street Bears, Commercial Appeal, Sports Illustrated, SB Nation NBA, New York Post, New York Daily News, Clutch Points, Nets Wire, Nets Insider, Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Steve’s Newsletter