Jonas Valanciunas looks tired and not as impactful as he was in Game 1

In Game 1 of this series, Jonas Valanciunas was fantastic for the Grizzlies and took the fight to Rudy Gobert in the paint on both ends of the court. Since then though, Gobert has seemed to have the advantage on Valanciunas and it has gone a long way for the Jazz.

All season long, Jonas Valanciunas has stepped up when the Grizzlies needed him, but all of the minutes he has played seem to finally be catching up to the veteran big man. He averaged about 28 minutes per game during the regular season, but in the playoffs, Valanciunas is averaging about 34.8 minutes per game, resulting in him being fatigued late in games. 

Jaren Jackson Jr. is another big, lengthy body on the Grizzlies roster, but he is not really a true center, which is another reason why Valanciunas has been tired in this series. Memphis does not really have another center that they can lean on to be a big bodied presence in the paint and fight with Gobert down-low besides him. 

As a result, the 29-year-old center is being forced to play a lot more minutes than he is accustomed to, resulting in Valanciunas being tired when it matters most for the Grizzlies in this series. In Game 5, Jonas Valanciunas is going to have to deliver and bring the fight back to Rudy Gobert, otherwise the Grizzlies’ season could be ending sooner than they would like. 

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A lot of the talk about the Grizzlies has been about Ja Morant and Dillon Brooks, but Jonas Valanciunas is the most important player on this team because of the second-chance opportunities he creates for this team. 

Memphis fought their way through the play-in tournament and took Game 1 on the road in Utah, so they are definitely not out of this series yet, but a lot of their success hinders on if Jonas Valanciunas and the rest of their frontcourt can not only control the boards, but be able to keep Rudy Gobert in check.