This time, it happened a little bit earlier.

The Grizzlies (15-27) looked like they were set to be competitive down the stretch in another road game, grabbing a third-quarter lead against the Chicago Bulls on Saturday night thanks to a few dynamic plays from Luke Kennard and Jaren Jackson Jr. Then the Bulls woke back up, took control of the game and pulled away for a 125-96 win.

It was a similar version of the story Grizzlies fans saw on Thursday against the Timberwolves, where the Grizzlies hung in a game with a more talented team but faded down the stretch in a 118-103 loss. Even though the Grizzlies' season is ostensibly over because of the injury crisis that has completely derailed a campaign that started with high expectations, there are still 40 games to play.

"Offensively, I challenged the guys to continue finding ways to move the ball," Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. "Didn't really get our pace going, but we had 28 assists on 32 made shots. We could've had more if we'd generated some more paint touches. Overall, I thought we tried to play the right way, played hard. Just came up short against a team that played really well tonight."

So, is it enough for the Grizzlies to be competitive?

Fans will undoubtedly want to see the rest of the season be devoted to giving young players like Vince Williams Jr. and GG Jackson a chance to develop and play meaningful roles. Scotty Pippen Jr., who was signed earlier in the week to a two-way contract, made his Grizzlies debut on Saturday.

Jenkins and his staff could certainly approach the next 40 games with the goal of finding a few players who can be expected to play key rotation roles next season. Ja Morant, Desmond Bane, Marcus Smart, Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke will all be out for extended periods of time but should be expected to play major roles in next season's rotation. Morant and Adams are out for the season, but Adams — who has not played all season — rejoined the team and was on the bench for Saturday's game.

Jenkins said Saturday he knows defense will be this team's identity. Williams earned himself a full contract earlier this month in part because of his defensive ferocity, and he's someone who's emerged because he was thrown into a bigger role due to the injury crisis.

Jaylen Nowell was with the Grizzlies for two 10-day contracts earlier this season, and he earned consistent playing time as a scorer of the bench. With offense hard to come by, there's opportunity for anyone who can consistently put points on the board. That's how GG Jackson, who scored 20 points in back to back games and had 10 on Saturday, burst onto the scene even though the second round pick is the youngest player in the NBA.

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"Our offense really just set us back tonight," Jenkins said. "First quarter, 17 points, we couldn't really generate any offense, couldn't really get into the paint, trying to get to that next action, playing with force."

Memphis has two more games on the road trip — in Toronto on Monday and Miami on Wednesday — before returning home. Will those two games look like the last two?

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: The Memphis Grizzlies are losing but are competing. Is that enough?