Morant steals the show in Conley’s return to Memphis
The video tribute played on the Fedexforum jumbotron during the first timeout Friday night, and Mike Conley didn’t know what to do. Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder was drawing up a play in the huddle. Conley wanted to pay attention, but he just had to watch. His teammates were waiting to see if he’d start to cry.
There flashing on the screen were some of the great memories from Conley’s 12 years with the Memphis Grizzlies. The night he got drafted. The broken face game. The charitable endeavors. The three fingers he held up after each 3-pointer. The clutch playoff shots. The images of the Core Four.
When it ended, the crowd stood and roared. Conley stood to salute them. And then, when the timeout ended, he ran across the court, to the point guard who’s becoming a Grizzlies star before our eyes.
“Congrats,” Ja Morant told Conley.
“Man, thank you, and hold it down,” Conley said back. “You’re going to be here a long time.”
To which Morant responded by completely stealing the spotlight on a nationally televised night that began as an homage to his predecessor.
This was an emotional game, but it
wasn’t a sad game.
Not when the Grizzlies came out with a 107-106 win.
Because Morant appears to be so dang good already. He makes you forget Conley is gone, even during the game when Conley returns to town.
He’s good for four or five Ja-dropping moments every time he takes the floor.
Like the second quarter Friday night, when he caught the ball at mid-court, took two power dribbles to his left, brought the ball around his back and connected on a one-footed scoop layup from one foot inside the free throw line.
Or what about the fourth quarter, when Morant scored nine of his 25 points.
There was the sequence when Morant nearly lost his dribble, then immediately crossed over a defender and raced down court for a two-handed jam.
Which preceded the isolation he called for himself, when he spun past Emmanuel Mudiay and scored over him in the paint.
After that one, he celebrated by holding his hand just a few feet off the ground to signal that the 6-foot-5 Mudiay was simply too small. Never mind that Morant is 6-foot-3.
The camera flashed to a smiling Tony Allen, seated on the sideline near the Grizzlies’ bench for Conley’s homecoming. Morant had the Grindfather’s seal of approval.
If that weren’t enough, Morant hit the eventual winning basket for the second time in as many games.
He had, as it turned out, some extra motivation unrelated to Conley. Friday was the first game his infant daughter had attended. He cradled her in the stands during warmups. It was his father’s birthday, too.
“It’s a big night for me, honestly,” Morant said, “and just to top it off with a win, it just felt good. It was special.”
It was special because he’s special.
Just think about all the memories he’s created over only the first month of this season. The block on Kyrie Irving, the massive fourth-quarter performance to beat Minnesota and the buzzer-beating layup at Charlotte earlier this week could all be part of his tribute video one day.
Morant is already proving to be “a once-in-a-lifetime talent,” teammate Jaren Jackson Jr. said. He is the sort of talent who can make this bridge between the Grit N Grind era and whatever is being assembled now so much more enjoyable. He’s the type of talent that makes people buy tickets to watch a losing team.
Except this losing team has now won three games in a row thanks to Morant. Count Conley among the believers.
“He’s quick, he’s athletic, he’s very poised and he makes big plays. We got to see it all tonight,” Conley said. “He’s got the poise of a seasoned vet and that’s not normal.”
This game was anything but normal for Conley. He struggled to balance soaking in this adulation and love from the city in which so many of his greatest life moments occurred.
It was a dreamy feeling, Conley said after hitting just 5 of his 19 shot attempts for 15 points, because every time he looked into the crowd, he saw someone he knew and it triggered a memory from his time in Memphis. He was glad it was over, but also glad he got to experience it.
Conley understands ovations like the ones he received Friday night don’t just happen to everyone, that “you’re lucky to get that kind of situation,” he said.
So before he left the court, once Morant finished wowing us all, the Grizzlies point guard of the past and the Grizzlies point guard of the future embraced in the present.
“He told me I was doing good,” Morant said, “and the city is going to be behind me for a long time.”
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto