2 weeks Ago
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Ja Morant wasted no time alleviating concerns about his injured ankle. Even after suffering a severe sprained right ankle in Tuesday’s Play-In Tournament loss to Golden State on Tuesday, Morant was adamant he’d suit up for the Grizzlies’ elimination game against the Dallas Mavericks Friday night.
As the unquestioned leader in Memphis, he had no other choice. But would he look like the same explosive Ja Morant we’ve come to know? Advertisement Any questions about his health were answered emphatically after Morant sprinted through the lane and took flight following a Santi Aldama miss to throw down a thunderous putback dunk in the first quarter that sent FedEx Forum into a frenzy. “I’ve learned not to doubt him too much,” Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said.
“I’m not sure there are other human beings on the planet that can do stuff like that.” JA MORANT MY GOODNESS 😱🤯 pic.twitter.
com/HFalGZPeMo — NBA (@NBA) April 19, 2025 The energy Morant provided on that play and during most of the first half helped push Memphis to a resounding 120-106 victory over the Mavericks to earn the No. 8 seed in the West. The Grizzlies will face the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs, beginning with Game 1 on Sunday at 1 p.
m ET. In the days leading up to Friday’s victory, Morant underwent an MRI and received shots in his ankle on Thursday and Friday to relieve some of the pain and swelling he was experiencing. After he was seen limping around at Thursday’s practice, there was serious concern that, at the very least, Morant’s play would be compromised while dealing with an injury that probably would’ve sidelined him during the regular season.
Instead, Morant set the tone early with his aggression. He didn’t settle for jumpers. He didn’t start off looking for his teammates.
He came out with the mindset to get to the basket and score. He did just that, scoring 12 of his 22 points in the first quarter, including his jaw-dropping dunk that’ll be featured prominently on his highlight reel the rest of his career. But Morant’s mentality early on wasn’t just important for this night.
He needed to remove some of the nervous energy in the building, which was hard to ignore, given the severe stakes hanging over this particular game. Advertisement A win over the Mavericks wouldn’t just earn the Grizzlies a spot in the playoffs. It would help them avoid a disastrous end to a season that was already much more chaotic than anyone would expect for a team with 48 wins.
After Morant’s injury and the Grizzlies’ ugly record over the past month, it was only natural for questions to arise about whether this group had anything left to give physically and emotionally. Morant made sure to put an end to that talk early. And as usual, the rest of the Grizzlies followed.
“He always adds juice to what we’ve got going on,” Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane said. “He’s an MVP-type player. A walking highlight reel.
I was happy he was able to give it a go. I knew he was going to show up.” But it wasn’t just Morant who showed up during this crucial moment.
After his hot start, Morant started to fade as the game progressed and the explosiveness on his drives wasn’t quite the same. Over the final three quarters, he shot 4 of 17 from the field, but it was the other two members of the Grizzlies’ Big 3 – Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. – that picked up the slack and allowed Memphis to maintain its comfortable lead.
Bane scored 11 points in the second quarter and Jackson followed that up with a 12-point third quarter that kept the Dallas defense guessing. By the night’s end, Jackson finished with a team-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while Bane added 22 points and nine assists. It was important for Morant, Bane and Jackson to have this type of performance going into the first round because, although the odds will be heavily against them, the Grizzlies are much more dangerous than a normal No.
8 seed because they have such a dynamic trio leading the way on offense. The Morant-Bane-Jackson trio has been through playoff battles before and their symmetry on and off the court has improved tremendously over the years. Advertisement The Grizzlies stars have been communicating a lot more via group chat this season to get on the same page and to lift each other up during times of struggle.
Before Friday’s game, Jackson sent a long paragraph to Morant and Bane to verbalize just how meaningful this game was, not just for the team, but for their journey as a trio. It was a message that needed to be heard ahead of a game with this magnitude. “We’ve had a nice little chat running all year long,” Bane said.
“We’ve been able to pinball things off of each other. I needed to hear it. I’m sure Ja needed to hear it too coming into the game tonight.
Our response was just, ‘Let’s march. Let’s put our best foot forward.’” All three of them knew that, after falling from the No.
2 seed to the No. 8 seed over the last month, the biggest challenge heading into Friday night would be maintaining the fight and not allowing the circumstances to dictate their energy. Playing like a team that wasn’t ready for the season to be over just yet.
The Mavericks were clearly overmatched in this game, even with star forward Anthony Davis accounting for 40 points and nine rebounds as he fought through lingering soreness in his adductor and a calf injury he suffered while chasing a rebound in the second half Friday night. As long as Memphis approached this game with the proper focus, there wasn’t much Dallas could do to stop them from running away with this one. That won’t be the case on Sunday.
Now, the Grizzlies face a different challenge as they head on the road to take on the team with the best record in the NBA. But this isn’t just a great team. The Thunder ended the regular season with the highest net rating in NBA history.
They are also the ninth Western Conference team since 2000 to win 65-plus games. Six of those previous eight teams at least made it to the conference finals and four of them won the championship. Advertisement The Thunder also swept the Grizzlies in their four matchups this season with a combined margin of victory of 75 points.
All four games were decided by double digits. A No. 8 seed taking out a No.
1 seed is rare enough in the NBA playoffs, but defeating what might go down as a historically great team will be an extremely difficult task for this Grizzlies team. Even with all the good vibes they’ll churn up from Friday’s win, it’s pretty clear this story won’t have a happy ending. As much credit as Memphis deserves for digging itself out of this hole, there’s no avoiding that this is the prize it gets for falling in that hole in the first place.
“Take care of the ball. They fuel off turnovers. Try our best to contain Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander).
He’s been unbelievable this year,” Bane said of his team’s gameplan going into the first-round series. “I think if we do those two things, we’ll have a good chance.” The task becomes even more difficult for Memphis with them only having 36 hours between the end of Friday’s win and the start of Game 1 on Sunday.
Overcoming a turnaround that quick is tough enough for any team, but Morant will now have much less time to rehab his ankle injury and get the necessary treatment to make sure he’s ready to go. Frankly, it wouldn’t be shocking if Memphis sits Morant in Game 1 to make sure he gets the necessary rest for his ankle. His status going into Game 1 has yet to be determined at this point.
Morant will more than likely push to play, but Memphis will ultimately have to decide what’s best for him and the team. “For us, on this quick turnaround, we’re going to look to keep a good thing going,” Iisalo said. “(On Saturday), we have our first preparation together (for this series).
We’re going to take everything out of that that we can.” The Grizzlies know they’ll be heading into this series as tremendous underdogs. Most pundits will pick them to get swept or lose in five games.
Frankly, considering how this team has played since the start of March, it’s hard to blame any pundits for going that way. Advertisement But Memphis feels most comfortable in the underdog role. Morant and several of his teammates prefer when people doubt them.
Well, in this series, there will be no shortage of folks counting them out before Game 1 even starts. “I don’t feel like this is any different from the regular season. I feel like we were the underdogs the whole time,” Morant said.
“How many people you heard talk about us, except when we lost? It’s the same mentality.” (Photo: Justin Ford/Getty Images).
