Next man up? Tyus Jones averaged 16.4 points and 8.1 assists in 22 starts during the regular season.
MEMPHIS — All eyes were on Ja Morant as the door to the Memphis Grizzlies’ practice court swung open Tuesday afternoon, and Morant seemed to know it.
As media folks filed in, wielding cameras, cell phones and curious gazes, they locked in on Morant’s right hand and saw a whole lot of nothing. As in no dribbling, no shooting, no contact with the basketball or anything else. Teammates got up shots while the Grizzlies point guard chatted, smiled, occasionally bounced a ball or flipped it toward the basket. All with his left. His right hung there like a dead fish.
The unusual focus, the suspense, stemmed from Morant injuring that hand late in Memphis’ 128-112 Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at FedEx Forum. Soaring to the basket, he crashed into L.A. big man Anthony Davis and stuck out both hands to break his fall.
His right, already aching and wrapped from a previous spill in Milwaukee April 7, bent backwards as it took the impact. Morant yelled in pain and raced immediately to the locker room, his game over. The Lakers seized the moment, outscoring the Grizzlies 23-11 from there, including the final 15 points.
.@memgrizz status report, First Round Game 2 vs @Lakers:
QUESTIONABLE
Ja Morant – RT Hand SorenessOUT
Steven Adams – RT Knee PCL Sprain
Brandon Clarke – LT Achilles Tear
Jake LaRavia – RT Calf Soreness— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) April 18, 2023
The All-Star point guard was forlorn after the game. The injury could put his postseason “pretty much in jeopardy,” Morant said, and he fretted that he might hurt rather than help his team if he tried to play again too soon.
Will Wednesday’s Game 2 be too soon? That remains to be seen, with Morant’s status termed a game-time decision by Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins after Tuesday’s practice.
Jenkins did share that Morant had participated in the session, testing the hand with some shots and ballhandling. More involvement, at least, than he had let on for the reporters.
An MRI exam showed soft-tissue damage between the bones in his hand, aggravating the Milwaukee injury.
“He’s progressing, dribble and shooting as much as he can,” Jenkins said. “It’s kind of a tolerance thing. But he’s got some stiffness in his hand he’s slowly getting through. We’ll see how he wakes up tomorrow.”
The Grizzlies are hoping for the best while preparing for the worst. Losing the series opener at home makes Game 2 a must-win, pragmatically speaking, because LeBron James up 2-0 in the playoffs, heading home for the next two, is the stuff of nightmares.
We’ve been down this road before. [Jones] sets a tone for us with his playmaking, pace of play, how he moves the ball, sets his teammates up. We don’t have to change our system. … that gives me a lot of confidence, gives our team a lot of confidence.”
— Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, on Tyus Jones
If Morant is unable to go, Memphis will start Tyus Jones, widely considered the best backup point guard in the NBA. Over the past two seasons, with Jones starting, the Grizzlies have gone 32-13. The eighth-year guard from Duke averaged a career high 24.3 minutes this season, plugging Morant’s spot during his eight-suspension in March.
On a per-36 minute basis, his stats come in at 12.7 points, 7.4 assists and 1.8 steals, while hitting 35.7% of his 3s and 81.4% of his free throws. Most important, the Grizzlies are comfortable with him in that role.
“Tyus is so smart,” teammate Jaren Jackson Jr. said. “He’s basically always had the responsibility of knowing where everybody is supposed on the floor. Finding us in our spots. [Jones and Morant are] both great passers – they’re both really pass-first guards. Obviously Ja is super bouncy and athletic, so it’s a little bit different. But they’re both amazing.”
Said Jenkins: “We’ve been down this road before. [Jones] sets a tone for us with his playmaking, pace of play, how he moves the ball, sets his teammates up. We don’t have to change our system. … that gives me a lot of confidence, gives our team a lot of confidence.”
It might be time for Ja Morant to exercise more caution after suffering a wrist injury that could sideline him for Game 2 and beyond.
Jackson, named Monday as the NBA’s Kia Defensive Player of the Year for 2022-23, is another source of confidence. He avoided foul trouble — an Achilles heel in his game — to stay on the floor for 37 minutes and had one of his best offensive games this season with 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting, both inside and out (2-of-4 3s).
His defensive impact was limited on an afternoon when five opposing scorers got 19 or more points. It’s one thing when James (21), Anthony Davis (22) and even D’Angelo Russell (19) are getting theirs but way worse when role players Rui Hachimura (29) and Austin Reaves (23) are outscoring each of Jackson’s Memphis teammates. Those five shot a combined 44-of-79.
Jenkins didn’t take the easy way out, blaming Hachimura’s and Reaves’ big games on the defensive attention demanded by James and Davis. He saw breakdowns by his defense, notably in pick-and-roll coverage. That means it can be corrected – assuming something doesn’t squirt loose for the Lakers elsewhere.
“Went back and watched the film, just understood where our urgency’s got to be better to execute the game plan, our rotations,” Jenkins said. “Knowing that yes, even though we’re going to put a lot into James and Davis, those guys are willing playmakers to set up their teammates. We’ll be better prepared for when they make those decisions.”
Memphis is focused for now on winning the battle Wednesday night. Winning the war is a bigger chore, given that it’s one of attrition. Center Steven Adams (knee) and reserve forward Brandon Clarke (Achilles) – two of the Grizzlies’ top seven, big bodies to combat the Lakers’ primary stars – are injured and out for the postseason. Now Morant is hurting and a question mark too.
The NBA runs on a “next man up” mentality, but this is getting ridiculous, on the way to insurmountable. On the Memphis depth chart, the backup to the backup point guard is starting shooting guard Desmond Bane. On April 8, the team waived rookie Kennedy Chandler, a 20-year-old who had logged 281 minutes in just 36 appearances.
“It’s daunting. It’s daunting for sure,” said Xavier Tillman Sr., the Grizzlies backup center pressed into starting against Davis. “It’s crazy to think about all the injuries we’ve had this year.
“You talk about it at the beginning — the team that usually wins is the healthiest team. So for us to go through this, and we’re still trying to win. A lot’s on our backs. But we take it day-by-day and try to get ready and use the guys that we have that are up.”
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Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
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