Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant’s will miss Sport 4 of their first-round collection in opposition to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder on Saturday, ESPN reported Friday. Morant injured his hip after taking a tough fall throughout Sport 3. Down 3-0 within the collection, the Grizzlies face elimination with out their finest playmaker, and Morant’s 2024-25 season may very well be over.
Late within the second quarter on Thursday, Memphis was up by 27 factors when Scotty Pippen Jr. dropped off a move to Morant on a quick break. The Thunder’s Lu Dort, who was chasing Pippen, slipped as he circled and crashed into an airborne Morant.
Morant stayed down for some time, then missed each free throws and checked out of the sport. He didn’t return, and Oklahoma Metropolis made a historic comeback, coming away with a 114-108 win. The Thunder are one win away from advancing to the second spherical, they usually and have outscored the Grizzlies by 60 factors within the 62 minutes that Morant has been on the bench through the collection.
Memphis coach Tuomas Iisalo instructed reporters that Morant can be evaluated on Friday. The harm affected Memphis’ power and execution “quite drastically,” Iisalo mentioned.
Officers reviewed the play and decided it was not a flagrant foul.
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“It’s a tough one,” Dort instructed reporters, through ESPN. “I was running back, making a hustle play for my team. I was running quick, stopped on a dime. I didn’t know he was behind me and I was slipping, so I still tried to make a play on the ball.”
Dort added: “I hope he’s OK. I obviously didn’t mean to hit him like that.”
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault described the play as “unfortunate” and mentioned he hoped that Morant was all proper.
“You want everybody to be at full strength,” Daigneault instructed reporters. “He’s a great competitor, he was playing great, obviously that had something to do with the game as well — it would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that. But I think it was a clean play. I think everybody was just playing hard.”
Morant completed the sport with 15 factors on 6-for-11 taking pictures, 5 assists and nil turnovers. The Grizzlies outscored Oklahoma Metropolis by 16 factors in his 16 minutes.
Sport 4 is Saturday at FedExForum.
