Morant, Grizzlies defy critics
Team’s winning streak climbs to five following a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day win over Phoenix.
Ja Morant's pass to Grayson Allen for the lead-changing 3-pointer, with a leg kick for extra flair, was stunning.
His one-handed lefty layup right after that, with just enough arc that rookie Xavier Tillman couldn't figure out how he got past the outstretched arms of Deandre Ayton, was sublime.
His charge on the very next possession, with Morant punctuating the moment by screaming into the camera, was a scene-stealing surprise that sealed the best win of this very young and very unusual Memphis Grizzlies season.
So after the Grizzlies beat another team that was supposed to be better than them during their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration game, Morant offered a signature soundbite to cap off this unexpected streak.
“We had a slow start. People was saying we needed to tank,” he said, “and that's never on our mind. We're going out to win.”
The Grizzlies are winning games at a pace few considered possible again, five in a row after Monday's 108-104 win over Phoenix, and they're once again starting to win the perception battle that's waged every season in the NBA.
They've established for the second year in a row they are both ahead of schedule in this rebuild, and unapologetic about trying to get the playoff berth that slipped through their grasp a year ago.
It doesn't matter that the best days are in the future. It doesn't matter that a high pick in the 2021 draft could yield another key piece alongside Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. This is an example of the most refreshing kind of stubborn.
Morant is the headliner, of course, and deservedly so. His sooner-than-expected return from a sprained ankle instantly infused life back into this pandemic-altered first month of the season.
But did you see who else was on the court during the defining minutes of the Grizzlies' fifth-straight win, when they moved their record to above. 500?
Joining Morant was a lineup featuring Allen, Tillman, Tyus Jones, and Brandon Clarke, none of whom would even be in the starting lineup if the Grizzlies were at full strength.
Did you notice they did it when the Suns had Ayton, Chris Paul and
Devin Booker on the floor, unlike those wins over Brooklyn without Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, or that recent triumph over the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid?
And did you hear what Charles Barkley said about the Grizzlies during TNT'S halftime show Monday?
“They're building a culture,” he said. Taylor Jenkins is the “most underrated” coach in the NBA, he added.
“It's Spurs-esque,” he finally declared.
This was a nice consolation prize on an afternoon in which the Grizzlies' MLK Day celebration had to be more muted than usual due to COVID-19. It was a nod to the most successful smallmarket franchise in NBA history, and the franchise with which Jenkins got his start.
The Spurs had stars, but they also had a system and a set of role players who were better able to accentuate those stars thanks to that system. The Grizzlies are building up in that same vein.
The performance of Grizzlies not named Morant, Jackson or Justise Winslow re-established this team will likely be like last season's team. Not near what it might be in a couple years, but feisty enough right now to compete for a spot in the NBA'S new play-in round of the postseason.
So Monday became a nationally televised affirmation of how reassuring the past few weeks have been.
The Ringer's Kevin O'connor praised the Grizzlies for “drafting steal after steal” on social media.
ESPN front office expert Bobby Marks tweeted that the team gets “an A+ for the previous 2 drafts,” which yielded Desmond Bane, in addition to Clarke, Tillman and Morant.
TNT'S Kenny Smith announced that "as good as Ja Morant is ... it's the second unit. The second unit is really good even when they're short-handed."
A new contributor emerges seemingly every game, whether it's Allen, or Kyle Anderson, or Dillon Brooks, or Gorgui Dieng, or Jones, or you can really go down the roster alphabetically and find a player who helped get Memphis (7-6) above .500 for the first time this season.
They're forcing their way into the conversation, and now Morant is back for when when the fourth quarter demands that a stunning and sublime superstar take over.
Save the tanking talk for some other team.
These Grizzlies are winning too much for that.
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