After dropping the first two games of the series in a devastating fashion, Game 3 for the Memphis Grizzlies turned out to be even more crushing.
Blown out in Games 1 and 2, the Memphis Grizzlies were aiming to get back on track in their first-round NBA Playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. But an injury in Game 3 completely altered the entire April 24 matchup.
Franchise star Ja Morant endured a hard fall into the ground during the second quarter, and was eventually taken out of the game due to hip injury.
The Grizzlies gradually lost all momentum as the Thunder stamped one of the league’s most dramatic postseason comebacks, dismantling the home team’s 29-point lead en route to a 114-108 win.
Morant served as the third major star to suffer injury in the Playoffs, after Jayson Tatum (wrist) and Jimmy Butler (pelvis).
The Memphis Grizzlies were rocked after what happened to Morant. And right now, Lu Dort finds himself the primary subject of scrutiny across the Grizzlies fanbase.
With about three minutes left in the first half, the Grizzlies ignited a fastbreak play as Scotty Pippen Jr. attacked upon a Thunder turnover. Pippen Jr. went on to pass the ball off to a trailing Morant.
As Morant soared for a potential dunk, a slipping Dort undercuts, causing the Memphis point guard to awkwardly collapse.
Morant was wincing in pain as he landed on the ground, while Dort was only given with a common foul after an initial flagrant assessment.
“Tough one,” Dort said after the game about Morant, per Memphis Commercial Appeal. “Obviously I hope he’s OK. 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. I tried to make a play on the ball, but we just ran into each other and he fell down.
“But I hope he’s OK. I didn’t mean to hit him like that.”
Morant, who was on crutches and concluded the game with 15 points and five assists, had to watch his team’s meltdown from the sidelines.
The Thunder roared back to take the 3-0 series lead by overwhelming the Grizzlies in scoring department (74-41) behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and the resurging Chet Holmgren.
“[Morant] dapped me up,” Dort said. “That was it. That was enough. At least he knows that I didn’t mean to take him down like that.”
Desmond Bane has a different view what the OKC forward did against Morant, blasting his play as “reckless.”
“Anytime you come underneath a guy in the air, it’s not a basketball play,” Bane said, who finished with an awful G3 performance,10 points in 3-14 shooting.
“I didn’t have a good look at it to see what had happened, but coming underneath a guy in the air is reckless.”
With Morant slated to miss the remainder of the series, the Grizzlies are about to meet an impossible task of pulling off a first-round upset against the NBA’s best with Game 4 set this April 26.
