The Memphis Grizzlies are rolling. They are winners of their last 10 games and have ascended up the Western Conference standings. With loads of young talent led by budding star Ja Morant, Memphis is showing the league that they mean business.

The Grizzlies are fresh-off wins against the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Rookie wing Ziaire Williams played a big part in the win over Golden State. He matched up with Stephen Curry and played pretty well on defense against the MVP candidate, leading an effort to hold him to 2-9 shooting from 3-point land.

Morant gave Williams a shoutout for his huge performance in the Grizzlies' win, touting the pregame work he did to prepare. Per Damichael Cole of The Commercial Appeal:

“I wish you all could have seen him pregame, how much treatment he was doing to prepare for Steph,” Grizzlies star Ja Morant said. “Locked in. He was in the recovery boots, had heat packs, he was doing balance tests. I had never seen him do that before. I think he was really locked in tonight. He delivered for us and got us a big win.”

Veteran point guard Tyus Jones praised Williams, too, saying that the Grizzlies youngster, who was picked 10th overall in the 2o21 draft, is showing much more confidence.

“It’s huge,” Tyus Jones said. “We know Ziaire is capable of that. You see his confidence skyrocketing, and he’s just way more comfortable now than he was the beginning of the year.”
Williams still has lots of work to put in before he can be a consistent contributor for Memphis. The 20-year-old is only averaging 6.1 points per game at the moment. But showing such confidence against a superstar is a sign that Williams has was it takes to be a high-level player.