Taylor Jenkins is a patient man. He is more concerned with process than results. He is upbeat even when circumstances make that hard. He gives long — sometimes rambling — answers to any and all questions.

But one question after Wednesday’s loss to the Utah Jazz seemed to push him pretty close to the edge.

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It was about his team’s time in the Orlando bubble. Could Jenkins “speak to” how different it has been than what he would have hoped?

“I mean, I would have hoped that we played better and we didn’t get hurt,” he said. “I don’t know what else to say.”

That’s all he had to say, really. That’s all there is to say. He wishes Justise Winslow hadn’t been lost for the season and that Jaren Jackson Jr. hadn’t been lost for the season and that Tyus Jones hadn’t been lost for every game so far.

It wasn’t a bad question. It just went straight to a nerve. Like asking the rest of us if we could “speak to” how the 2020 we are living is different than the 2020 we had hoped for.

It’s a lot more miserable, that’s how.

It’s not nearly as much fun.

We all may be better or stronger or wiser for it in the long run — that’s what some people say, anyway — but it’s not what any of us had in mind.

So it is for the Grizzlies in the bubble.

What else do you want them to say?

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The Grizzlies lost to the Jazz, 124-115, their fourth straight in the bubble and their fifth straight overall. The swaggering collection of players who flew to Orlando intent on proving the skeptics wrong — Memphis vs. Errrbody, and all that — are now finding solace in the respectable way they lost.

“I feel like we battled tonight,” said Ja Morant.

“We played hard,” said Dillon Brooks.

“You’ve got to be happy with the way we competed,” said Grayson Allen.

And you know what?

Allen is not wrong.

You don’t have to be happy with everything, of course. You can be unhappy the Grizzlies lost three of their seven best players to injury. You can be unhappy that it was just last Friday that Memphians were allowed to have hopes for the Grizzlies again, and within five days those hopes were dashed. You can be unhappy that at a time when everything else in life is so disappointing, the Grizzlies restart has become disappointing, too.

So, no, you don’t have to be happy with everything. But you can’t be particularly unhappy with what unfolded in Wednesday’s game.

Morant, Brooks and Jonas Valanciunas each scored 20 or more points. Grayson Allen — he has been a bubble bright spot — had 20 points, too.

But the Grizzlies ultimately came up short against a team with better, healthier players. It wasn’t exactly a shock.

The whole thing is reminiscent of the 2019-20 Memphis Tigers’ basketball season in many ways. It had started with such high hopes. But then James Wiseman quit the team and DJ Jeffries was lost for the season with an injury. And that was effectively that.

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Sure, you can quibble over particular moments of the latest loss, if you wish. Why did Morant get only one shot during Utah’s 22-1 second-quarter run? Why were Valanciunas and Kyle Anderson tossing up (and missing) 3-pointers during consecutive possessions in crunch time?

But even those moments are hard to get too worked up about, if only because they may help the Grizzlies learn what not to do in bigger games in future years.

“Like everyone says, it’s harder when you get to the playoffs,” Brooks said, and never mind that these aren’t technically playoff games. They feel like playoff games. The tensions are the same. And for all the setbacks since arriving in the bubble, the Grizzlies are still alone in eighth place with four games to play.

So no, this isn’t exactly the Orlando trip the Grizzlies had hoped for. There have been obstacles and disappointments they didn’t foresee. But they’ll keep at it. They’ll keep trying to do their best.

This year of all years, y’all may know how it feels.