Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins applauded big man Jaren Jackson Jr.’s “phenomenal” defensive effort last night during their 128-103 home win vs. the Atlanta Hawks (tied franchise record with 8 blocked shots).
(via Memphis Grizzlies):
“JJ [Jaren Jackson Jr.] was phenomenal tonight, 8 blocks, 7 rebounds, just manning the paint defensively. We knew that was gonna be a priority, obviously, with a number of their main rotation players out like Young, Capela, Bogdanovic. We just knew that these guys were gonna be ducking their heads trying to get to the paint. As a team in general, they’ve been pretty good in the paint and in the mid-range. So we did a much better job I thought in the second half of that. I think we held them to below 40% shooting from the paint for the game. So that was huge.
“But JJ, when you see him out there just wreaking havoc, his activity, playing with different big combinations. You saw that tonight playing a lot with BC [Brandon Clarke], but he was phenomenal tonight, then backed it up by playing extremely well on the offensive side. When he plays like that, it sets a tone, just the aggressiveness. I thought overall, our defense was really good. He did a great job tonight.”
