For the Memphis Grizzlies, this season has been about patience. 

They’ve done a lot of waiting.

They’ve waited for Ja Morant to come back, and they’ve waited for the season to turn around. 

But after a loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, that waiting is becoming increasingly more difficult.

Memphis needed that one. It was a game in which they were favored against a team well below .500 on the season and breaking in new pieces. They were thoroughly beaten. 

The Grizzlies’ playoff chances become thinner with every unexpected defeat. So far, Memphis has not lacked confidence that eventually, the disappointing trajectory of the season will change. 

But it’s getting close to crunch time, already in early January. 

If the Grizzlies want to make the playoffs, it feels like it’s getting closer to now-or-never for the run to get back in the postseason race. 

These players have been around basketball for a long time. They understand how challenging it will be to close a 5.5-game gap (to the 10th and final postseason position) in three months. 

“We dug ourselves in a hole,” Grizzlies wing Ziaire Williams said Wednesday. “It’s always harder to get back out, but it’s not impossible. We will get it done.”

That task looks even more daunting considering the next three Memphis games will come on the road at the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks. While not must-win games, they will be important. 

Memphis is 3-7 in their last 10 against the Lakers, 4-6 against Phoenix, and 4-6 against Dallas. 

The first game on the trip comes at Staples Center (9 p.m., Fox Sports Southeast), where Memphis has struggled mightily. The Grizzlies are just 1-9 in their last 10 road games against the Lakers. 

What is going to take to return to Memphis next week feeling better about the direction the team is headed?

“Energy,” Morant said. “Starting with playing from the tip until the buzzer sounds at the end of the game. We have to play a full 48 minutes of good, hard, relentless basketball, and have confidence on the offensive end.”

It was an interesting note that Morant made about competing for the full 48 minutes. Coach Taylor Jenkins, guard Desmond Bane and Williams all made a similar point on Wednesday. 

Several times this season the Grizzlies have mustered comebacks that fall just short, like the loss to Toronto. But you don’t want to be playing from behind against LeBron James, Devin Booker and Luka Doncic. 

“Good starts, sustainable starts, everybody on the same page for 48 minutes,” Bane noted as a key. “We are playing against good teams and good players.”

If they can’t do that, Memphis could be coming back to home with a season that feels like it's even further out of reach. 

“(It takes) discipline, on the defensive end, especially, not just on offense,” Williams said. “We’ve been killed on runs. We have to do better at stopping the bleeding. We have to come out with just juice. We’ve been flat the past few days, especially at the start of the third quarter.

“Whatever it is, if you have to go out early, or do an extra stretch, we just have to figure out how to always be motivated out there and keep fighting.”

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