Ja Morant, one of the NBA noted aerial artists, is apparently no longer interested in high-flying dunks. On November 6, the Memphis Grizzlies guard was hit in the air by Los Angeles Lakers center Christian Koloko while trying to catch an alley-oop, causing him to miss eight games due to a partial posterior hip subluxation. and multiple strains of the pelvic muscles. On Tuesday, after the Grizzlies’ 121-116 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, Morant told reporters that he had come to the conclusion that his more daring dunk attempts were too risky.
“I’m not trying to make any dunks,” Morant said. via ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “Everyone thinks I’m lying. I’m very serious.”
Morant explained: “Sometimes they knock me out in the air and [a foul] They don’t call me, and now I’m gone longer than I’m supposed to be. Sometimes the fault can be punished; I still hit the ground, but after the match you might feel that little drop. So I just pick and choose man. Hey, two points are two points. I do it. That’s all that matters.”
In 12 games this season, Morant has made four dunks. One of them escaped on Tuesday.and there were some boos when he delicately dropped the ball through the net instead of doing something spectacular.
“Hey, I’m fine with that,” Morant told reporters. “Keep booing me. Hey, I got two points. It was still a dunk. It just wasn’t the dunk you wanted to see. But if you boo me for a little scratch, I’m fine with that.”
The irony is that Morant has made two of the best dunks of the season since returning from injury. In his first game back, against the Portland Trail Blazers, he threw a towering tomahawk in a counterattack and later said in his exit interview“I really wanted to leave that, but that’s my only dunk of the year, so everyone be happy.” In his next game, against the New Orleans Pelicans, Morant finished an alley-oop by Brandon Clarke with his head at the level of the rim.
Morant, 25, is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 174 pounds. He’s never been afraid to attack the basket, but his extraordinary jumping ability doesn’t mean he’s truly superhuman. The blows and hard falls add up, and he already has a long list of absences due to injuries. It makes sense that he’s thinking about the long-term ramifications of his playstyle, even if it means fewer crazy highlights (and even if he sometimes can’t help himself).
As expected, Morant does not plan to participate in the dunk contest.
“If I’m relaxing in the game, you don’t have to worry about the dunk contest either,” Morant told reporters. “Man, my focus right now is to do what I can with the team and keep trying to get to 100 percent.” [healthy]”.
One silver lining, from an entertainment perspective: Some of the best highlights of Morant’s game occur when he’s avoiding contact. Examples 1A and 1B: Your two 360-degree trays against the Brooklyn Nets last month.
Morant is averaging 22 points, 4.1 rebounds and 8.6 assists in 27.7 minutes for the Grizzlies, who are 8-4 with him in the lineup and 14-8 overall.
