The altercation between veterans Garrett Temple and Omri Casspi of the Memphis Grizzlies after a loss to the Detroit Pistons reportedly stemmed from a lack of proper enthusiasm from the bench. The Grizzlies had just lost their third game in a row, putting them below the .500 mark for the first time since their first game of the season, now losers of eight of their last 10 games.

“The discussion then turned toward the bench players and a perceived lack of enthusiasm from the unit, when Casspi became vocal in his defense,” wrote Shams Charania of The Athletic. “Temple and Casspi exchanged words and had a physical exchange before they were separated, according to those sources.”

The frustration was evident here, and while the Grizzlies could have used more bench scoring, that wasn't the problem to point to.

The elephant in the room was a goose-egg night from All-Star point guard Mike Conley, who failed to get to the line once, going 0-for-8 from the field and dishing out only one assist in the contest.

Had it not been for a 26-point, 10-rebound effort from Jaren Jackson Jr., the Grizzlies wouldn't have been remotely close to catching the Pistons after they erased a halftime advantage entering the fourth quarter.

The Grizzlies haven't been playing good basketball for the past month and the kinks in that system have begun to show. Temple's issue with Casspi is only the surface of a deeper-rooted problem that has cost the once-leaders of the Western Conference to slide to the 10th spot in a very unforgiving Western Conference.