Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant admitted he wasn’t himself in the previous games of the series vs Minnesota. During the crucial Game 5 Tuesday night, Morant took over for Memphis at the best time possible leading his team to a comeback in the fourth quarter.
Morant’s late heroics ignite a rally that pushed the Grizzlies to the win and a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference first round series. The run started for the Grizzlies late in the third quarter after Morant put Wolves’ swingman Malik Beasley on a poster.
The Grizzlies superstar finished with 30 points, 13 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals as Memphis erased a 13-point deficit in the third quarter to outscore Minnesota 24-37 in the fourth to complete the comeback.
Morant scored 18 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter, including 16 points in the last six minutes of the game. The explosive guard said the Grizzlies need to amp up their performance next game.
“I’m tired of playing from behind. Game 2 you see what happened, when we come out and play from the jump. We have to have the mindset we had going in Game 2 into the Game 6,” Morant told reporters.
In Games 3 and 4, Morant averaged just 13.5 points, shooting 29 percent from the field and 20 percent from deep. He even made only 71 percent of his attempts from the free-throw line as Grizzlies struggled to find easy buckets.
“Not give them too much life going ahead and come out play hard, play with energy and start early. The last three games we haven’t played our basketball.”
The Grizzlies did not shoot well, especially Morant, who saw the Timberwolves putting multiple bodies on him and making him pass the ball. However, when it mattered most he was in attack mode.
“He was huge,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said, via ESPN. “He just had a smile on his face. ‘I made that shot a million times.’ I said, ‘You’re going to make the next one.
Just keep shooting, keep attacking.’ This is the fun part about playoff basketball — you don’t know how you’re going to win.”
In a really draining sequence of games for both teams, the Grizzlies will travel to Minnesota for Game 6 with a chance to close out the series.
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