Ja Morant

The Golden State Warriors just got whooped. 

The Memphis Grizzlies obliterated the Dubs on Wednesday night 134-95 in Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals matchup. The Warriors still hold a 3-2 lead in the series. 

But for at least one evening, they were a punching bag, both on the court and on the socials:

The burns were justified. The Grizzlies were without superstar point guard Ja Morant, who was listed as doubtful for the remainder of the playoffs Tuesday after being diagnosed with a right knee bone bruise.

Everybody was fair game after the loss, including interim coach Mike Brown, who was filling in for Steve Kerr again after the Warriors head coach tested positive for COVID-19. 

How often do you see teams trail by 52 points—yes, 52 points—heading into the fourth quarter in a playoff game, or by as many as 55 points in a contest?

Basically never.

Nothing went well for the Dubs. Steph Curry had just 14 points in 25 minutes, and his night—along with those of the rest of the team's key players—ended midway through the third quarter. Klay Thompson led the way for Golden State with 19 points, but he was also a game-worst minus-45 on the evening in 25 minutes. 

Tyus Jones, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane scored 21 points apiece to lead the Grizzlies. 

Game 6 returns to San Francisco on Friday evening. The Warriors have two days to lick their wounds because Memphis handed them a historic smackdown in Game 5. 

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant is expected to miss the remainder of the 2022 NBA playoffs with a knee injury, the team announced Tuesday.

That said, he is expected to make a full recovery. 

Morant was absent for Memphis' Game 4 loss to the Golden State Warriors because of a right knee injury. The injury happened in Game 3, potentially when Jordan Poole caught Morant's knee while going for a loose ball.

However, Morant may have initially hurt the same knee after contesting Klay Thompson's three-point attempt and making contact with him in the third quarter.

Regardless of the mechanism of injury, the Grizzlies lost 101-98 on Monday night to fall behind Golden State 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals with their best player out. Given the Warriors' slim margin of victory, it's fair to argue Memphis could've evened things up if it had been at full strength.

Now, Taylor Jenkins' squad truly faces an uphill battle against the Warriors with Morant absent. Reeling off three straight wins will be no easy feat, and it becomes nearly impossible with the reigning Most Improved Player sidelined.

Morant was excellent in the regular season, averaging 27.4 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds, and his performance in the playoffs has been just as good.

Thanks in part to the injury to the 2022 All-Star, though, a great season for the Grizzlies might be heading toward a disappointing outcome. 

A difficult second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors just got even more challenging for the Memphis Grizzlies.

While speaking to reporters ahead on Monday, Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins officially ruled out Morant for Game 4 with a knee injury he suffered during a Game 3 loss.

The league's Most Improved Player of the Year suffered the setback on a controversial play in which Warriors guard Jordan Poole grabbed his knee. The Grizzlies reached out to the NBA about the play, although Poole was not disciplined for his actions.

It was part of a physical series that saw Draymond Green ejected from Game 1 for a flagrant-2 foul, Dillon Brooks ejected from Game 2 and suspended for Game 3 for a hard foul in transition that fractured Gary Payton II's elbow, and Green the center of attention again when he was bleeding after Xavier Tillman caught him with an elbow to the face in Game 2.

Green temporarily exited that contest and flipped off the Memphis fans who were booing him as he left the court.

Morant is a major loss for the Grizzlies after he spearheaded their attack this season by averaging 27.4 points, 6.7 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game during the regular season.

If there is a silver lining for the Grizzlies, it is the fact they went 20-5 without him in 2021-22. It will be up to the supporting cast to play well in his absence once again if they are going to defeat the Warriors.

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant appeared to suffer a leg injury in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 142-112 Game 3 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He did not return, and his status moving forward is unclear. 

After the game, Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters that Morant suffered the injury when Warriors guard Jordan Poole "yanked" at his knee. Meanwhile, Poole said after the game that "it was a basketball play," and he "was going for the ball." 

Warriors stars Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry also weighed in on the play.

Morant finished with 34 points, three rebounds and seven assists before exiting the game. 

The 22-year-old has been one of Memphis' best players all season, so there's obviously some cause for concern. That said, it's hard to imagine Poole was deliberately trying to hurt him. 

It's unclear if Morant will play in Game 4 on Monday. If he's sidelined, the Grizzlies will face an uphill battle to get the series back to even following Saturday's loss. 

Memphis Grizzlies superstar guard Ja Morant had compromised vision during the fourth quarter of the Grizzlies' 106-101 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series on Tuesday night.

While speaking to the media after the game, Morant said he could not see out of his left eye during the fourth quarter:

Despite that, Morant scored the Grizzlies' final 15 points and led all scorers with 47 points overall.

It is unclear precisely what happened to Morant's eye, but ESPN's Kendra Andrews reported that he could be heard saying, "I can't see," while heading to the bench at the end of the third quarter.

Andrews added that Morant apparently got hit in the eye at one point.

All told, Morant had 18 of his 47 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-11 shooting in a game Memphis had to have.

The second-seeded Grizzlies fell 117-116 to the No. 3 Warriors in Game 1 of the series, and a loss in Game 2 would have put them well behind the eight-ball against a team with plenty of championship experience.

Making Morant's performance even more impressive was the fact that he did so without the support of the team's second-leading scorer, Dillon Brooks.

Brooks was ejected from the game just three minutes into the opening quarter after being assessed a flagrant-2 foul that resulted in Warriors guard Gary Payton II falling to the court and fracturing his elbow.

Aside from Morant, no other Grizzlies player had more than 14 points, which highlighted Morant's ability to put the team on his back in a huge moment.

If the Grizzlies are going to eliminate the Warriors and move on to the Western Conference Finals, they will need more similar showings from Morant, who is playing his best basketball of the season.

The 2021-22 NBA Most Improved Player of the Year is averaging 26.3 points, 10.1 assists, 8.6 rebounds. 1.9 steals and 1.6 three-pointers made in eight playoff games.

Golden State has some players capable of getting hot and scoring at will, including Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, but if Morant continues on his current trajectory, the Grizz will be a tough out.

Ja Morant, your spot at the NBA superstars' table is ready.

The 22-year-old phenom put on a show while leading his Memphis Grizzlies to a 106-101 victory over Stephen Curry's Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their Western Conference Semifinals series Tuesday. The series is tied at one game each after No. 12's masterpiece.

It appeared the Warriors would steal both games in Memphis when Curry banked in a three to put them up four in the final five minutes, but Morant responded by scoring 15 consecutive points for his team to clinch the victory.

Included in that flurry was a step-back three-pointer, a move that left Jordan Poole falling to the ground and multiple clutch free throws. 

He had LeBron James and seemingly everyone else in awe on his way to 47 points, eight assists, eight rebounds and three steals:

Golden State fought through some adversity, as Gary Payton II was ruled out with an elbow injury he suffered on a Dillon Brooks flagrant-2 foul after just three minutes. Draymond Green also needed stitches and returned with a badly swollen eye.

While they battled through those setbacks, along with Curry and Klay Thompson's combined 5-of-23 shooting from three-point range, they couldn't overcome Morant's flurry that sets the stage for what promises to be a thrilling Game 3 on Saturday.

Ja Morant knows that Patrick Beverley is going to try to get in his head when the Memphis Grizzlies play the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of their Western Conference playoffs matchup. 

He's not too worried about it. 

"You remember that quote I said? We ain't ducking no smoke," Morant told reporters Thursday. "We run up the chimney. It's simple as that. ... Somebody comes to this organization—they know we can't back down. That's soft person tendencies. We don't got no soft guys on this team."

Morant was referencing a comment he made back in February. 

"There ain't no running in the M, man," he told reporters at the time. "We climb up the chimney. We ain't ducking no smoke. We're gonna let everybody know we're here. We're gonna play hard, we're trying to get a win and if you don't like it? Oh well."

And Morant and Beverley exchanged a few words on the court when the two teams met in January:

This series is going to be fun.

For one, these are two of the exciting, up-and-coming teams in the NBA. And they split the season series, 2-2, with one of the games going to overtime. 

But these two teams have also developed a reputation this season as brash, trash-talking groups. To this point, both have back up that swagger.

"That's our identity, and that's going to continue to be our identity," Morant told ESPN's Tim MacMahon in February. "Some guys don't like it, but it gives us an edge. It gives us a boost, a lot of energy out there on the floor, so we're going to continue to do it."

Then there's Beverley, who is notorious for his high level of intensity and knack for getting under his opponent's skin.

That has seemed to rub off on his teammates—in March, for example, they took aim at Los Angeles Lakers guard Russell Westbrook, with Beverley pinching his nose after forcing a Westbrook turnover and Karl-Anthony Towns pretending to look around in confusion for the ball after a Westbrook air ball later in the game.

So yes, you can expect smoke between the Grizzlies and Timberwolves. Morant is here for all of it. 

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green lobbied for teammate Jordan Poole to win the NBA's Most Improved Player award over favorite Ja Morant, via ESPN's Kendra Andrews:

The award is called the most improved. Not who had the best year. That's the MVP. A lot of times we get it confused. No disrespect to Ja Morant, but Ja is an MVP candidate. Ja Morant isn't the Most Improved Player. He was f--king incredible last year. When you look around, the most improvement has been Jordan Poole and that goes without saying. He is the most improved.

Morant is a legitimate MVP candidate with averages of 27.4 points and 6.7 assists per game for the Memphis Grizzlies, who have the second-best record in the NBA. His improvement is also notable after his scoring average jumped 8.3 points from a year ago.

Green argued the 22-year-old was already a top player, however, with Poole making a more impressive leap from last season.

Poole averaged 12.0 points, 1.9 assists and 1.8 rebounds as a bench player in 2020-21 as the Warriors did not even make the playoffs. This season, Golden State is looking at the No. 3 seed thanks to Poole's 18.4 points, 4.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game.

The guard was worth negative-1.2 win shares as a rookie and just 1.9 win shares last season, but he has contributed 5.9 win shares in 2021-22, per Basketball Reference. 

"When you look at where he's come from, the steps he's taken—he's been thrown into a position that not many guys would handle well, and that's essentially to do your best Steph Curry imitation," Green said.

Stephen Curry has been sidelined by a foot injury in recent weeks and Poole has stepped up with his best stretch of his career. Over the last 19 games, he is averaging 25.5 points while shooting 42.6 percent from three-point range.

The recent praise from Green came after Poole's worst game in this run, finishing with 18 points on 3-of-19 shooting in Saturday's win over the San Antonio Spurs. The ability to stay aggressive and get to the line help the Warriors pull out a hard-fought win despite the shooting woes.

Though it might not be enough to top Morant for MIP—with Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray and Tyrese Maxey also in consideration—Poole still deserves praise for his impressive season.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant could return from his knee injury before the end of the regular season, coach Taylor Jenkins said Thursday.

Morant has not played since a March 18 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

Despite Morant missing 23 games, the Grizzlies have remained a regular-season juggernaut and posted a 20-3 record without their best player. Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks, who recently returned from injury, have helped shoulder the scoring load.

Memphis has at least six days off after Sunday's regular-season finale against the Boston Celtics, so Morant will have even more time to get back to 100 percent if he's not capable of returning for one of the last two games.

The Grizzlies are locked in as the No. 2 seed in the West and will face one of the two play-in winners.

Morant is averaging 27.6 points, 6.7 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game and is a lock to make his first All-NBA team. He already made his All-Star debut in February.