DALLAS — Ja Morant turned toward the Memphis Grizzlies‘ bench, balled up his fists, flexed and let out a primal shot after hitting a clutch floater Friday night. He released another shout and danced down the floor, pantomiming playing a guitar, after swishing a 3-pointer that sealed the 122-111 win over the injury-ravaged Dallas Mavericks.
It was a familiar feeling that Morant had been missing.
“A little bit of Ja, the old Ja,” Morant said after scoring 11 of his 31 points in the final 6:15 to help the Grizzlies snap a season-long four-game losing streak. “Yeah, so it was nice to see some baskets go down. Obviously, it’s kind what I’m used to.”
Asked how often he felt like himself this season, Morant replied, “Not at all.”
It’s been a frustrating season for the two-time All-Star guard despite the Grizzlies’ 39-24 record. Morant has averaged 20.9 points per game but has struggled with efficiency, shooting career lows from the floor (43.1%) and 3-point range (28.4%) while dealing with injuries throughout the season.
Morant missed eight games in November after he suffered a right hip subluxation and associated pelvic strains when he was bumped midair while attempting to catch an alley-oop. In late December, he suffered an AC joint sprain in his right shoulder — which was surgically repaired last year, causing him to miss the final three months of the season – after he was on the receiving end of a hard screen.
“Fouls, getting hurt, that plays a lot,” Morant said. “Makes you move different, makes you think different. But I’m out there, so just try to find a way.”
Fouls weren’t called in either instance that Morant was injured this season, and he acknowledged Friday that he’s attempting to temper his frustration with officials.
“Obviously as a competitor, if you kind of feel like something ain’t going your way, you get frustrated,” Morant said. “Obviously I’ve been frustrated, been receiving techs, so just trying to go a different way about it. Obviously I don’t feel like [referees are] on my side, but just trying to stick with it. Don’t let ’em continue to take me out my game and then I’ll be bad for my teammates.
“So I’ve been working on that. Still trying to work on it, but hopefully at some point it turns over. If I ever did anything bad to a ref or something, I’m sorry.”
Morant has dealt with shoulder soreness over the last three-plus months. He sat out two of the losses during Memphis’ recent skid. After returning for Wednesday’s home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, when Morant finished with 24 points on 8-of-22 shooting, he told reporters that he should have sat out that game as well.
Morant has been in an especially nasty shooting slump since the All-Star break. He has made only 7 of 46 3-point attempts (15.2%) in that span. Morant was 1 of 5 from long range Friday night. His lone 3 occurred with 29 seconds remaining in the game, which Morant pointed to as proof that his confidence isn’t wavering.
“All-time high. I’m not worried,” said Morant, who was 13 of 29 from the floor in the win, including 10 of 16 in the second half. “If I miss a shot, I missed plenty of shots in my basketball career. I’m not the first one to miss shots. So you see what happened, how I ended the game. I hit a 3. That honestly should show the confidence right there, right? To seal the game, I shot a 3. That should show my confidence right there.”
His Grizzlies teammates have consistently implored Morant to keep shooting. Their confidence in him also hasn’t been dented.
“He’s the one,” Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane said. “He knows that. I’ve been telling him that ever since I’ve been here. Whenever the game gets tight or we’re in a stretch where we need a bucket or need some momentum, there ain’t no question who I want to have a ball.”
Source: espn.com