Players react to Morant dunk over Wembanyama
Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant dribbled the ball behind the 3-point line in the first quarter as 7-foot-4 San Antonio Spurs rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama squatted in a defensive stance and stared him down.
The Fedexforum crowd roared as Morant crossed Wembanyama over and headed to the rim, but the Spurs center blocked the ball off the backboard.
Morant got his revenge in the fourth quarter.
The Grizzlies guard crossed Wembanyama over again, and this time, he jumped up with two hands and dunked over the outstretched arms of Wembanyama.
Morant celebrated in the immediate moments following the dunk, but he mostly downplayed the sequence after the Grizzlies’ 106-98 win on Tuesday night against the Spurs.
“I was just rim grazing,” Morant said. “You know your first high school dunk. You just put the ball over the rim then hang on the rim. My pops calls that a hard layup. So, I’ll take it. That’s what everyone wanted. That was my gift. A late Christmas gift or a Happy New Year gift.”
Still, that didn’t stop Grizzlies teammates from soaking in the moment. Well, except Bismack Biyombo. “I told him in the game, I would have blocked that,” Biyombo said while laughing.
“It’s impressive. Plays like that always change the momentum of the game, so you got to take advantage of those plays.”
Grizzlies players on the bench jumped up and celebrated while simultaneous holding each other back from being too far out on the court.
Morant may have downplayed the dunk, but his teammates didn’t.
“Ja is capable of dunking on anybody, but I saw it coming,” Desmond Bane said.
“Once he gets to that drop, right, left, and he gets close to the rim, it’s ugly for whoever’s down there. Add that to the highlight reel.”
“With him, you never know what he can do,” Luke Kennard said. “He’s made some of the craziest plays I have seen since being in the league. That was pretty nice.”
Grizzlies players weren’t surprised that Morant did the dunk since they’ve seen him do it countless times before, but Wembanyama was a different kind of test.
Before the game, Jaren Jackson Jr. said he didn’t want to jinx Morant. He didn’t mention the possibly of dunking on Wembanyama, even though it crossed his mind.
His plan worked.
“I figured he had heard it enough,” Jackson said. “... It’s funny though. We kind of saw it coming because we know his moves.”