If you’d known before Wednesday night’s Grizz road game against the Portland Trail Blazers that Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum would combine for only 35 points, maybe you’d have thought that was a good sign for the slumping Grizzlies, since Lillard and McCollum typically create an overwhelming share of the Blazers’ offense and have been raining down jumpshots on the Grizzlies since at least the 2015 playoffs, if not before.

Once the game got underway, it seemed like things were going the Grizzlies’ way, too, with Portland held to only 17 first quarter points and the Grizz defense swarming everything. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story of what happened.

BOX SCORE: Memphis Grizzlies vs. Portland Trailblazers

What happened was: sure, Portland scored 17 points in the first quarter, but the Grizzlies only scored 18.

Joakim Noah, whose addition to the lineup has been a force for (mostly) good over the past few games, was out with “right heel soreness,” and Mike Conley—who missed the Grizzlies’ Monday night game in Oakland with a hamstring issue—was listed as Questionable just hours before tipoff. Ivan Rabb had to catch a flight from the G League Showcase to make an appearance. Wayne Selden played, for some reason. JaMychal Green started the game well but then slipped on a wet spot and accidentally did the splits, and somehow managed to play most of the rest of a basketball game despite that fact.

Whatever cohesion the Grizzlies had early quickly dissipated as Portland started to find their sea legs. The middle two quarters of the game were fairly back-and-forth affairs, but by the time the third was winding down, Portland was starting to open a little lead.

It all came apart for Memphis in the fourth, with Mike Conley scoreless and the Blazers pouring it on (seven Portland players scored in the final frame to Memphis’ three). Rebounding, the thing that’s been an issue all season, was still an issue tonight. Frankly, it was a pretty rote regular season road game, joyless and disjointed. I’m a little mad that Herrington didn’t have to write this recap. 

Shorthanded on the road, struggling to create offense and struggling to contain a spread offense that relies on outside shooting. In other words, the Grizzlies’ return to “Grit and Grind” values this season has also brought with it the off nights of that same era, when nights would start out well and steadily go pear-shaped. C’est la vie. All that was missing were the Tayshaun Prince clanks from 20 feet and Tony Allen staggering through a junior dance team’s timeout routine.

Bright spots? The young guns held their own: Jaren Jackson, Jr. had several extremely impressive plays on both end of the court, Jevon Carter (who should have played more in the second half over a struggling Shelvin Mack) continued his rookie trial-by-fire by having to check Lillard, and Ivan Rabb proved he can rebound and score at an insane rate against the right matchups, notching 8 points and 7 rebounds in only 9:57 of play.

The Grizzlies have now lost 4 in a row, and 7 out of their last 10.