Ja Morant stood on the side of the opposition alone as the Memphis Grizzlies had to enter the ball with 3.6 seconds. Golden State Warriors’ guards Gary Payton II was the defender who was awarded. Payton stood near the 3-points Grizzlies line before looking at the Warriors’ bench and ran to face Morant before passing.
Morant passed by Payton and met him in the air as he tried to squeeze left to Klay Thompson where the noise was heard. He missed, and the Warriors took Game 1 in the second round of the NBA playoff 117-116 Sunday at FedExForum.
“I was really hit with the game,” says Payton. “Thank God Klay Thompson smelled. He had my back and he was just trying to make it hard for him to shoot me hard, and he missed. ”
TOWN TOGETHER:Ja Morant of the Grizzlies has scored 34 but missed the winner of the 1st game losing to the Golden State Warriors.
TWO EXTRAS:What Draymond Green said about Game 1’s release, and what Brandon Clarke said about Green
GIANNOTO:The Memphis Grizzlies missed their shot against Draymond Green-less Golden State in Game 1
It was a play that Morant has translated several times. He did so against the Phoenix Suns in the December victory and the final against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Each time Morant filled the ball, he stepped down and crossed the street.
Morant said it was the same message that the Grizzlies have at any time in this regard. Earlier, he described the message, “take a bucket, Ja.”
“I just missed the opportunity,” Morant said.
“She was very good looking,” said Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins. “It did not happen to enter.”
The sheer number of calls was why, as the Warriors claimed, they were expecting.
“We have seen it,” said Payton. He drew several times. Just trying to confuse them. And Klay did what he had to do to distract.
“We knew he was going to be tempted to go down;
It appeared that Thompson used his 6-foot-6 frame to disrupt and make Morant more vulnerable, although Morant denied after the game that Thompson’s rivalry had the effect of a shot.
Against the Suns, Morant completed the shooting of Devin Booker and last year defender Mikal Bridges. He met on the edge with 6-9 Jared Vanderbilt when he shot in Game 5 in the first line.
That’s why a long time ago, Warriors coaching coach Jacob Rubin informed Thompson that the game was coming.
“Obviously I thought he was going to attack, and I didn’t think Brandon Clarke was the last one to be shot,” Thompson said. He is an amazing player in the park, and I just tried to cut him off so he wouldn’t open and force him to blow hard. “
A lot of attention was put on Morant throughout the game. The Warriors introduced Payton as Morant’s senior manager. He also emphasized giving Morant a place in line 3 and removing his movement.
Morant scored 34 points in a 14-for-31 shot and made 4 of 11 3-pointers.
The Grizzlies did not get their regular production from most of their players. Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks both scored more than 18 points in the regular season but did not score two goals on Sunday.
These numbers are among the reasons why there was no fear from the Grizzlies after the loss of Game 1. Besides, in the last two games of the Grizzlies, the team that won Game 1 lost the series. The Grizzlies won Game 1 last season against the Utah Jazz before losing the series 4-1, and won the series 4-2 against the Timberwolves after losing the first game.
“We are very proud of our boys,” said Jenkins. The effort they put in tonight was amazing. There are mental flaws we had. We’ll clean things up easily, watch the video tomorrow. I just need to get better, get better, get ready for tomorrow to be a big cleansing day, and get ready for Tuesday’s game. “
Connect with Damichael Cole at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @damichaelc