Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant was forced to exit Sunday's Game 1 showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers after sustaining an injury in a freak accident.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Morant attacked the rim and tried to dunk all over Anthony Davis. However, he wasn't able to go over the Lakers big man and his dunk was interrupted mid-air.
Morant fell awkwardly and appeared to hurt his hand in the scary fall. He writhed in pain for a few seconds before getting up and going to the locker room.
Ja Morant goes up against Anthony Davis, comes down and hurts his right hand on this play.
He is heading to the locker room špic.twitter.com/pmiHH19Vo7
ā ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 16, 2023
While Ja Morant was able to go back to the bench, he was seen holding his wristāobviously still in pain. There was no way he's going back after that hard fall, and so the team opted to keep him out for the rest of the contest.
Morant had 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, two steals and six turnovers before his untimely exit. The severity of his injury has yet to be known, though the Grizzlies and the fanbase are certainly crossing their fingers for some good news. It will definitely be troublesome if Morant ends up sitting out games, especially in the playoffs where they are up against a motivated Lakers team.
In the absence of Morant in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, LA went on a huge run to seal the deal and win 128-112. It's not hard to imagine that such scene would happen again should Morant be sidelined in their next few games. The good news is the Grizzlies have two days of rest before playing the Lakers again.
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