Memphis Ja Morant’s guard was still unknown on Friday when the team faces a possible elimination game in the West Conference series against Oklahoma City.
Morant was injured when he crashed into the floor in game 3, an incident that contributed to the loss of 114-108 of the team.
Despite the reports that Morant would leave for game 4 on Saturday, the interim coach Tuomas Iisalo refused to confirm that.
“They are still examining it,” Iisalo said when asked about the state of the guard, adding that Morant did not practice on Friday.
When asked about the type of tests or evaluation carried out in Morant, Iisalo replied: “I don’t know. I am not a medical person.”
Morant was at a quick break with his teammate Scotty Pips Jr. when hey, jumping to the basket, was beaten at his feet by a stumbling block of Luguentz Dort. The contact led Morant to hit the court without breaking his fall.
The play was reviewed by excessive contact, but it was considered a common lack. Morant was lying on the court the review when medical staff and teammates reviewed him.
Morant began to accelerate the locker room, but returned to shoot the free throws, in case he could return to the game, losing both. That left the Grizzlies with an advantage of 67-40, an advantage that had reached 29 points moments before.
Morant did not return, the Grizzlies blew the advantage and lost when the Thunder surpassed Memphis 63-31 in the second half.
Like Iisalo, Memphis’s guard, Desmond Bane, said he was not aware of the state of Morant for game 4.
“I haven’t heard anything about losing the game,” Bane said.
He added that limiting ball losses and the control of the monitoring ball would be key to the Grizzlies who capture a victory in the best series of seven.
Memphis built an advantage of 29 points in the first half before Morant’s injury. The offensive stagnated with its absence and the pressure defense of the city of Oklahoma, which led to a series of ball losses of the second half. The Thunder surpassed Memphis 63-31 after part time to erase the deficit, the second largest return in a POSTEMPORADA game in the NBA since the game data per game were recorded in the 1996-97 season.
Keyshawn and Paul give advice to Yes Morant after the celebration of Granada
The only biggest return was 31 points for the clippers against Golden State on April 15, 2019.
“We are going to have to get stops and leave in transition,” Bane said. “That was huge for us and [Morant] He is a great driver of that. “
Morant lost 32 games duration of the regular season with various ailments and injuries, including four games with right -handed pain and five more with pain in the left sticks. Hey, eight games were also lost with a right hip subluxation and pelvic muscle tension.
The last three games of the Grizzlies 2022 series with the Golden State Warriors was lost after hurting their knee in game 3 of the semifinals of the conference.
Associated Press reports.
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