Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant opened up about his heated confrontation with Indiana Pacers rookie Andrew Nembhard on Sunday and shared what led to the shocking exchange.
Morant and Nembhard were caught on video jawing each other in the third quarter of the contest. As reported earlier, Morant's dad Tee Morant and friend Davonte Pack seemed to have a role in the altercation, with Pack actually escorted off the arena. Apparently, Pacers coaches complained about Tee and Davonte since they kept talking to the players.
In his postgame presser, Morant shared his side of the story. He revealed that he's simply coming to the defense of his father after he heard Nembhard tell him to “shut up.”
“Their guys, they were talking early. Then when I went over there Andrew (Nembhard) was telling my pops to shut up,” Morant detailed, per Drew Hill of the Daily Memphian. “And then, pretty much, I heard my Pop ask him if he said, ‘Shut up.' I was trying to figure out who he was talking to, and it was him, so I approached him. I was seeing what he was on. I checked his temperature. He didn't have a fever.
“Then (Pacers guard Chris Duarte) came over. He tried to push me trying to break it up and I told him to stop pushing me. He said he was cooling, then his teammates came over and he started talking. They kicked my brother (Pack) out. We got the dub. They kicked him out of the Forum, too. He's my twin.”
Now what's unclear here is who actually started talking to whom. If it was Tee Morant and Davante Pack who engaged and tried to talk trash to the Pacers, then that's enough reason for Andrew Nembhard and the Indiana team to respond. As Ja said, Nembhard did tell Tee to shut up, so the Morant patriarch probably said something to him.
However, if it's the Pacers who started it, then it's definitely unfair for Morant's friend to be ejected.
For what it's worth, though, the Grizzlies and Tee Morant are starting to develop a reputation for engaging in such verbal altercations. With that said, Memphis definitely needs to do something to avoid such distractions.
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