Memphis Grizzlies

The Golden State Warriors are one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals after overcoming a 12-point deficit to defeat the Memphis Grizzlies 101-98 on Monday.

One day later, Warriors forward Draymond Green went on his podcast to discuss the matchup and noted that his team is a cut above Memphis' first-round opponent, the Minnesota Timberwolves (around the 4:15 mark).

Draymond had thoughts after the Warriors' Game 4 win against the Grizz 😤

(via @TheVolumeSports) pic.twitter.com/U5i0243oz8

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) May 10, 2022

Green's remarks were in reference to the Warriors' 142-112 win in Game 3, when Golden State won by 30 despite a 34-point performance from Memphis point guard Ja Morant.

Golden State holds a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven series. Game 5 is Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET in Memphis.

Green was overall very respectful of the Grizzlies, who played Game 4 without Morant because of a right knee injury, during his podcast.

Among numerous comments, Green recognized that Memphis was 20-5 entering Monday with Morant and then said the Warriors "got away with one that we probably shouldn't have won."

He also complimented Jaren Jackson Jr., who had a team-high 21 points and five blocks, saying that he was having an "absolutely incredible game."

However, Green also noted that the Warriors, who have won five Western Conference titles and three NBA championships since 2014, are "battle-tested" and have "championship pedigree."

Memphis is a young team on the rise that should be a perennial Western Conference title contender for years to come with a core led by Morant, who is flanked by a talented crew that includes Jackson, Desmond Bane and Brandon Clarke.

The Western Conference's No. 2 seed had some issues with the No. 7 seed Timberwolves in the first round, with the underdogs pushing the Grizz to six games.

Memphis also had to overcome deficits of 26, 13 and 13 again in Games 3, 5 and 6, respectively, to win those matchups.

The semifinals have proved to be much harder, and now the Grizzlies' backs are against the wall. Still, they have a tremendous amount of fight in them as evidenced by their near-upset win in San Francisco, and overcoming a 3-1 deficit isn't unprecedented.

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." 

“I was going for the ball. … I’m not even that type of player, I respect everybody. Hopefully he gets better, and we can see him out there next game.”

Jordan Poole on his incident with Ja Morant https://t.co/9rbDxEbzag

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2022

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

Steph Curry not having it with the discussion involving Ja Morant’s play with Jordan Poole pic.twitter.com/OK31thj6PN

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 8, 2022

Klay Thompson defends Jordan Poole in a Klay sort of way: “I don’t think he’s strong enough to affect somebody’s knee. But we’re not out there trying to hurt people or club people in the back of the head on a fast break. We play the game the right way."

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 8, 2022

Warriors forward Draymond Green on the Grizzlies’ Jordan Poole accusation: “I’m not going to try to go tit for tat. We have a basketball game to win Monday.”

— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 8, 2022

Draymond Green said he believed that Jordan Poole and Ja Morant bumped knees before Ja’s injury pic.twitter.com/8B3e763P6Q

— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) May 8, 2022

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. 

Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry said Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks was "kind of out of line" when he fouled Dubs guard Gary Payton II from behind and caused him to suffer a fractured elbow during Tuesday night's game.

The hard foul, which was called a flagrant-2 upon review and led to Brooks' ejection, happened just three minutes into Game 2 of the second-round playoff series.

"It was kind of out of line in terms of a defenseless player going up for the layup and taking a huge windup," Curry told reporters. "Everything bad that could have happened in that situation did. Knocked him out of the game."

Dillon Brooks ejected after this hard foul on GPII 😳 https://t.co/SOPdOJFXow

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 4, 2022

The two-time NBA MVP also appeared to take a subtle shot at the officials' decision to eject teammate Draymond Green in Game 1 when comparing the two fouls.

"Talk about flagrant-2s...it was definitely one of those," Curry said.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who played 15 NBA seasons, added Brooks broke one of the sport's most important unwritten rules with the hard, high challenge from behind.

"I don't know if it was intentional, but it was dirty," Kerr said. "There is a code. This code that players follow where you never put a guy's season [or] career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in midair and clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary's elbow. ... He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code."

The NBA hasn't announced whether Brooks will face any additional discipline.

Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins didn't want to delve too much into the situation after his team's 106-101 win that leveled the series at one game apiece.

"They reviewed it," Jenkins said. "They made their judgment, obviously [Brooks] made contact to the head. So going to trust what the refs did."

Last week, Memphis' third-year coach was fined $15,000 for public criticism of officials during the team's first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

As for the game itself, Ja Morant took over with 47 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals in 41 minutes. No other Grizzlies player scored more than 14 points.

Curry led the way for Golden State with 27 points, while Jordan Poole continued his breakout stretch with 20 points off the bench.

Game 3 of the physical series is set for Saturday night at Chase Center in San Francisco.

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:

Grizzlies’ Ja Morant says he couldn’t see out of left eye while scoring final 15 points of Game 2 win over Warriors: “I’ve got another good eye over here. 20/20 vision right here. Thank God for my right eye.” pic.twitter.com/BzyJPwoU5p

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) May 4, 2022

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.

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr had some strong opinions on the play by Memphis Grizzlies wing Dillon Brooks that resulted in an injury to Warriors guard Gary Payton II early in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series Tuesday.

Kerr said Brooks "broke the code" by committing a play so dangerous that it put Payton on the shelf:

Steve Kerr goes in on Dillon Brooks for what Kerr called a dirty play that “broke the code” between players where you never put a players season/career in jeopardy. pic.twitter.com/FMFVuzm0lg

— 95.7 The Game (@957thegame) May 4, 2022

The play in question occurred about three minutes into the game and saw Brooks whack Payton in the head while he was going up for a layup:

After review, Dillon Brooks has been assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for this play on Gary Payton. His night is over.#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/2WQLOL5qJn

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) May 4, 2022

Brooks was assessed a flagrant-2 foul and ejected, while Payton suffered a broken left elbow on the fall.

Memphis won the game 106-101 and evened the series at 1-1.

Superstar Warriors guard Stephen Curry also made his feelings known regarding Brooks' hard foul.

"It was kind of out of line in terms of a defenseless player going up for the layup and taking a huge windup," Curry said. "Everything bad that could have happened in that situation did. Knocked him out of the game. ... Talk about flagrant-2s, it was definitely one of those."

As a result of the play, both teams lost key players for the remainder of the game, but Memphis overcame Brooks' absence best.

While injuries limited Brooks to 32 games during the regular season, he was the Grizzlies' second-leading scorer, averaging 18.4 points per contest.

With Brooks out, Ja Morant scored a game-high 47 points. Only three other Grizzlies players scored in double figures, and the second-leading scorer was Ziaire Williams with 14 points.

Payton isn't often talked about because of the presence of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole and others in Golden State, but he has been integral to the team's success this season.

The son of Basketball Hall of Famer Gary Payton is perhaps the Warriors' best defender and led the team with 1.4 steals per game. He also set career highs with 7.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest.

With Payton out, Jonathan Kuminga and Damion Lee saw a slight bump in minutes, while Curry, Thompson and Wiggins all played at least 38 minutes.

As of Wednesday morning, it was unclear when or if Payton would return this postseason and whether Brooks would be suspended for the foul.

Game 3 between the Warriors and Grizzlies will take place Saturday at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

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.

47 points.

22 years old. pic.twitter.com/cNvX7i96ly

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 4, 2022

JA IS TAKING OVER 😤 https://t.co/YyMMicaOzg

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 4, 2022

HIM. pic.twitter.com/m7UIjJ0fyj

— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) May 4, 2022

Ja Morant's hangtime is ridiculous!

He finishes the first half with 23 points 🏀#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on TNT pic.twitter.com/WFsyTIxhVc

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2022

Ja Morant cleared for takeoff 🛫#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on TNT pic.twitter.com/X97NqCt8Xu

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2022

Ja Morant is a problem in the paint!

He's up to 32 points for the @memgrizz.#NBAPlayoffs presented by Google Pixel on TNT pic.twitter.com/K8QKr1uVRd

— NBA (@NBA) May 4, 2022

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:

JA so damn tough!!!! There's no way Ja should even have been in MIP talks. This guy is a flat out ⭐️ and always have been!! Real basketball 🧠s know. Not the majority of dweebs who don't even watch basketball on those voting ballots.

— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 4, 2022

Like a said JA too special to be in a MIP conversation. Rising Super⭐️

— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 4, 2022

Ja continues to do stuff that physically, simply doesn’t make sense…and I’m forever grateful we get to witness it in real time.

— Jabari Ali Davis (@jabariadavis) May 4, 2022

ja morant plays basketball like god is holding down his turbo button and i love it

— Shea Serrano (@SheaSerrano) May 4, 2022

ja in the air: effortlessly fluid AND acrobatically aggressive…at the same time. he's absolutely incredible.

— Holly MacKenzie (@stackmack) May 4, 2022

i would like to order 7 games of steph curry vs ja morant please

— claire de lune (@ClaireMPLS) May 4, 2022

nba players to score *more* than 45 pts in *multiple* playoff games before their 23rd birthday (via @stathead):

—ja morant (2x)

that's it. that's the list. pic.twitter.com/azzIMfJysH

— Dan Favale (@danfavale) May 4, 2022

Ja scored the last 15 points for the Grizzlies 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nmFBRsOeMO

— br_betting (@br_betting) May 4, 2022

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.

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green was ejected from Sunday's 117-116 Game 1 win over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first half for a flagrant-2 foul after pulling Brandon Clarke to the ground by his jersey. 

After the game, Clarke didn't appear too happy with the play, calling out Green and telling reporters that hard fouls from the veteran are par for the course.

"He's been known for flagrant fouls in his career," Clarke told reporters. "I've watched them on TV my whole life it feels like, so I wasn't really shocked."

Clarke's comments didn't go unnoticed by Green:

draymond laughs at brandon clarke’s claims pic.twitter.com/B3670A9e7B

— Chris Montano (@gswchris) May 2, 2022

Here's a look at the play that resulted in Green's ejection:

Draymond Green was ejected for this flagrant 2 foul. pic.twitter.com/QPYnODEXt1

— ESPN (@espn) May 1, 2022

After the game, referee Kane Fitzgerald explained that Green made "unnecessary and excessive" contact on Clarke, which warranted a flagrant-2 and an ejection. He added there was "significant contact" to Clarke's face and that the tug on the jersey that sent him to ground was "unnecessary and excessive" because Clarke was vulnerable in midair. 

Both Stephen Curry and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game they believed Green didn't deserve to be ejected. Curry noted that his ejection is bad for basketball.

Steph doesn’t believe Draymond deserved to be ejected: “It’s not good for the game” pic.twitter.com/ifJ1XeRZuC

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 2, 2022

The explanation Kerr received from officials on Draymond's ejection:

"He hit him in the face and threw him to the ground" pic.twitter.com/CW6XbaMjAW

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 1, 2022

In Clarke's defense, Green does have somewhat of a reputation for flagrant fouls in the postseason. The most notable came during the 2016 NBA Finals, when he was suspended for Game 5 after a flagrant foul on LeBron James in Game 4.

The suspension was triggered after Green had a flagrant foul against the Houston Rockets' Michael Beasley in the first round and Oklahoma City Thunder's Steven Adams in the Western Conference Finals.

With Green unavailable, Golden State went on to blow a 3-1 series lead against James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

Considering Green is one of the most effective players on the Golden State roster, especially on defense, he'll need to keep it clean for the rest of the second round if the Dubs have any hope of beating the Grizzlies and reaching the conference finals. 

The Warriors and Grizzlies will meet again in Game 2 on Tuesday at FedExForum. 

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-j3P4ZsUM4

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AMjrcUTGYU

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

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.