As a No. 8 seed in the NBA Playoffs, usually the expectations aren't too high entering a postseason. For the Memphis Grizzlies, they have looked everything but a No. 8 seed so far.

The Grizzlies had to take out the Spurs and the Warriors in back-to-back games just to get to the dance. They did that. Then in Game 1 against the No. 1 seeded Utah Jazz, Memphis put on a clinic in route to a 112-109 victory.

Sure, Game 2 didn't go their way, Donovan Mitchell returned to the lineup and the Jazz offense could not be slowed down. However, the Grizzlies have plenty of reasons to feel super optimistic heading back to Memphis for Game 3.

In the first two games of this series, the Grizzlies have put up 112 and 129 points, respectively. Yes, they gave up an eye-popping 141 to the Jazz in the Game 2 loss but, had you said Utah scored 141 most would've assumed it was a 20+ point victory for Utah. Memphis continued to hang around and got it to as close as six points at the start of the 4th quarter.

The Grizzlies offense has been a vibe in the series so far. Ja Morant has been unstoppable, Dillon Brooks had a massive Game 1 and the five starters all scored double digits in Game 2 and all but one did so in Game 1 as well.

Memphis just isn't phased by the moment. There's no doubting Utah looked beyond crisp offensively on Wednesday night, but this is a team that gets it done with their defense as much as they do their offense. Yet in two games at home against the Grizzlies, Utah is yielding a touch over 120 points per game to Memphis. On the season, Utah surrendered 107 points per pop to the opposition.

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This series just has an odd feel to it after a couple of games. Donovan Mitchell being back for Utah will provide an incredible lift, but there's no sense that Utah is just going to run away with this series with Memphis rolling over.

While getting two back home would be great for the Grizzlies, even getting another split and going back to Utah tied 2-2 would put all the pressure back on the Jazz. And it's something Memphis is very capable of doing and heck, something many might be expecting them to do.