It’s a first-quarter timeout at the Grizzlies home opener and Grizz, the mascot, comes through the tunnel with something in his hands. It’s an infant in costume, a bear-cub cutie. Grizz carries his cub to midcourt, “Circle of Life” from The Lion King playing. He raises the little one above his head, toward the rafters. The crowd -- appropriately -- roars.

Jaren Jackson Jr. began the night by dapping up Young Dolph during the introductions.

If Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway was offered a chance at $125,000 to skip a year of college and go to the G-League, he would decline. 

A home opener is supposed to be a day of celebration, whatever the future holds, not a time for the biting of fingernails.

The coach liked what he saw on opening night: “Defensively we were really good. … Every guy went out on the floor and played hard. … The intensity didn’t drop off. … I just really liked our effort and execution, playing the game together.”

In the first half, Marc Gasol looked a lot like his team: slow of foot and uncertain of mind. Gasol got (a little bit) better in the second half, which was more than you could say for the team as a whole.

It’s the start of another Memphis Grizzlies season. What exactly does that mean?

On the cusp of this Memphis Grizzlies season, the franchise’s 18th in Memphis, the prevailing questions have been been about the team: How good can they be? How concerning were their preseason struggles? But let’s take a moment to talk about you.

When former Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger needed a bucket, he’d yell “Turn Four,” a call for Zach Randolph to get the ball. When we need to mull over the big questions at key moments in the Grizzlies season, we use it to call a Daily Memphian quorum.

The American Athletic Conference coaches predicted Monday that the Memphis Tigers will finish fourth this season.

Everyone’s happy the NBA preseason has shrunk. Not long ago, eight games was the norm. Now every team plays between four and six. The result is fewer games that don’t count, padded out by players who won’t be on regular season rosters; more air into an 82-game real season that needed extra rest time. Win-win, right?

There are different levels of NBA fandom. Some care about their team and some care about the entire league. There’s no right or wrong way to be a fan, but the following NBA-wide deep dive is for the latter kind.

Finishing up the final lap of the preseason, the Memphis Grizzlies showed more of a regular-season rotation early. The Houston Rockets showed midseason form on their 3-point shooting. The Rockets unloaded their 3-point arsenal, all the way down to a Chris Paul 30-footer in the first half, building a 27-point lead en route to a 121-103 victory over the Grizzlies on Friday night in the preseason finale for both teams.

Orlando Magic guard D.J. Augustin was cruising toward the basket for a right-handed layup. That’s when from the left corner 6-foot-11 Jaren Jackson Jr. flew to the other side of the rim and blocked Augustin’s shot.

When the Memphis Grizzlies open the regular season on Oct. 17 at Indiana, they will have played just five preseason games and the Pacers will have played only four.

Former Memphis Tigers standout D.J. Stephens has been signed to a two-way contract by the Memphis Grizzlies, the team announced Monday evening.

During the decade-long Mike Conley and Marc Gasol era, a dearth of three-point shooting elsewhere on the roster has consistently plagued the Grizzlies. Only once in this stretch have the Grizzlies finished in the Top 20 in three-point attempts and only twice in three-point percentage, never higher than 17th on the accuracy front.

A night after relying on veterans for a home preseason win, the Memphis Grizzlies yielded to their youth.

Score one for the grown folks.

The Grizzlies preseason just started, and by Sunday morning it will be more than half over.

A tale of two Media Day scrums: Jaren Jackson Jr. sat encircled, with microphones, recorders, and TV cameras surrounding Castle Jackson like an impenetrable moat. He held court with a big smile, talking about rap albums and Netflix shows, essaying the locker-room generation gap for which he’s the poster manchild in a manner that tiptoed the line between guileless and knowing.

The Grizzlies made their preseason debut Tuesday night in Birmingham with a 131-115 loss to the Houston Rockets. Scores don’t really matter in the preseason, but here’s a chain of thoughts on things that might:

On Oct. 19 at FedExForum, the Memphis Grizzlies will tip off a new season against the Atlanta Hawks. At that moment, with ball and anticipation in the air, last season’s 22-60 debacle officially moves off-stage.

Editor’s Note: This is the third of a five-part series previewing the Grizzlies roster.

The final dance contestant was Yuta Watanabe.