Ja Morant returns from suspension, nails buzzer-beater for win

NEW ORLEANS — With 9.6 seconds left in his late season debut, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant battled fatigue after bringing his team back from a 24-point deficit to tie the score against the New Orleans Pelicans. While using a massage gun on his calves, which he said he felt start to cramp during the timeout, Morant suggested a playcall: a post-up for power forward Jaren Jackson Jr.

Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane, sensing the moment and having seen Morant take over throughout the sequence, immediately rejected that plan.

“He told me, 'Hell no, you get the ball,'” Morant said after the Grizzlies' 115-113 victory Tuesday night. “So at that point, I just had to lock in and go deliver. And I did.”

Morant delivered a spectacular performance, capping his 34-point, six-rebound, eight-assist performance with the first game-winning buzzer-beater of his career. He beat Pelicans defensive guard Herbert Jones with a spin move in the lane before laying the ball down as time expired at the Smoothie King Center.

Morant silenced New Orleans fans who booed him early in his return from a 25-game suspension for brandishing a gun on an Instagram Live video in May, his second such incident in two months. His teammates erupted in joy, as did the hundreds of Grizzlies fans in the arena, including Morant's father, Tee, and his best friend, Davonte Pack, who were sitting in courtside seats just a few steps away. not from the Memphis bench.

“I feel like it was a perfect ending, a perfect day,” Morant said.

“It was crazy,” said Jackson, who had 24 points in the win. “I'm glad to have been a part of it. I'm glad to have been in the game to witness it.”

Morant made three field goals in the final 90 seconds, all on isolation drives against Jones. That matches the most go-ahead buckets in the final 30 minutes of a fourth quarter in the last 25 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information, a feat last accomplished by the Dallas Mavericks superstar, Luka Doncic, in 2019.

Morant had 27 of his 34 points in the second half despite struggling with the wind following an eight-month absence from competition, having played in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs in April, when the No. 1 seed Grizzlies No. 2, were eliminated by a 40-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Morant used an inhaler to get an oxygen boost midway through the third quarter and again during the break before the fourth quarter.

He came back with 8:17 remaining, with the Grizzlies trailing by seven points, and dominated the rest of the game. He scored 14 points in the final 7:15 – five field goals in paint drives and four free throws – including the Grizzlies' final six points of the game.

“Obviously I've been working hard, but it has nothing to do with NBA basketball, so it's just about inhaling to try to get more oxygen into the body so I can go out there and deliver,” Morant said. “When I came back after eight minutes, they told me, 'You're not coming out.' I just had to lock in and get through it. [That is] that’s pretty much my life – I just keep moving forward no matter what. »

Morant's winning shot occurred at 9:01 p.m., corresponding to the Memphis area code. It was the Grizzlies' first game-winning buzzer-beater since a Jae Crowder 3 on an assist from Morant against the Brooklyn Nets on October 27, 2019, which was the first victory of Morant's career.

It was desperately needed emotional relief for the Grizzlies, who went 6-19 during Morant's suspension, entering the night tied with the Portland Trail Blazers for the second-worst record in the Western Conference.

The 24-point comeback is the largest by a team that entered the game with a winning percentage of .250 or less in the last 25 years, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

“It was different to have our guy, our leader,” said Bane, who had 21 points. “He does a lot for us on the field, of course, but the spirit, the energy and everything he plays with is contagious. … I'm not surprised at all. I've seen him do a lot of things. crazy things. I'm not going to say I expected anything like that, but I knew he was going to be himself.

It was a vintage performance from Morant, as he dominated off the dribble, constantly going down and scoring in the paint. According to Second Spectrum, Morant scored 12 times on layups, dunks and floaters, which tied for the most by any guard in any game this season, tying Philadelphia's Tyrese Maxey in his 50-point game.

After Morant's teammates mobbed him while he was doing the TNT interview, he bounced as he ran down the hall to the visitors' locker room.

“I kept the receipts too!” I also had the receipts! Morant shouted, an apparent reference to the criticism he received during his suspension. He played Meek Mill's “Respect the Game” at high volume on a speaker near his locker as the media filed into the cheerful Grizzlies locker room.

Morant savored every minute, and the aftermath, of his spectacular and exhilarating start to the season.

“I just wanted him to have fun,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “It seemed like it was.”