Facing an eye-catching Thunder team, the Grizzlies needed a 7-0 in the final three minutes of the game to win. A small acceleration carried out without Ja Morant.
Indeed, less than four minutes from the end, the star of Memphis, clumsy until then (19 points at 5/20 to shoot), steps on the foot of Luguentz Dort and twists his left ankle. Ja Morant then joins the locker room grimacing, helped by Ziaire Williams. He won’t come back.
“I don’t know if it’s serious, it doesn’t seem so. He was walking “, says Brandon Clarke, after seeing his teammate in the locker room, for Commercial Appeal. ” We wait “, adds Jaren Jackson Jr. “We’ll see after the night, how he feels when he wakes up. »
The All-Star could therefore miss the trip to Brooklyn on Sunday evening, while the Memphis team has already been deprived of Desmond Bane for a few days.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s part of the game. It’s hard to lose Morant, but at the same time, it’s up to others to show themselves”assures Dillon Brooks. “We will rely on our workforce, that’s how it is”says Taylor Jenkins. “There is no reason to dwell on it, we have a match in 48 hours. »
The Grizzlies can indeed be reassured by their recent past without their point guard. Last season, Ja Morant had missed 25 matches and Memphis had then posted a superb record of 20 wins for only 5 defeats.
“We have already experienced this over the past few years, and we have lost Desmond too”, recalls Brandon Clarke. “We played very well without Morant last season, a little less this year (two matches without him, two losses). It’s always complicated not to have him with us, because he’s our best player. But we must have confidence in ourselves: we can be good without him, as we have already done. We have to find solutions. »
| Ja Morant | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2019-20 | SAME | 67 | 31 | 47.7 | 33.5 | 77.6 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 3.9 | 7.3 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 17.8 |
| 2020-21 | SAME | 63 | 33 | 44.9 | 30.3 | 72.8 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 4.0 | 7.4 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 3.2 | 0.2 | 19.1 |
| 2021-22 | SAME | 57 | 33 | 49.3 | 34.4 | 76.1 | 1.4 | 4.4 | 5.7 | 6.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 3.4 | 0.4 | 27.4 |
| 2022-23 | SAME | 13 | 33 | 48.0 | 40.3 | 78.2 | 1.2 | 4.9 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 3.9 | 0.3 | 29.3 |
| Total | 200 | 32 | 47.5 | 33.4 | 75.7 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 7.1 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 21.7 | |
