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The Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies squared off on Friday in their play-in matchup for the right to earn the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and face the Oklahoma City Thunder in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. In the early goings of the game, things already got a little chippy with a brief trash talk exchange between Mavericks star Anthony Davis and Grizzlies star Ja Morant.
The exchange came in the first quarter during a dead ball. Anthony Davis had the ball in his hands and exchanged pleasantries with Ja Morant as one of the officials attempted to pry the ball from Davis.
The trash talk was only about a few seconds to a minute at most, but the exchange might have lit a fire under Morant. Just a few possessions after that incident, Morant took flight for a thunderous put-back dunk that got the Grizzlies home crowd on their feet. It appeared as if the rest of the Grizzlies followed suit as Memphis held a 20+ point lead as of publication.
The Grizzlies got to this point following a tumultuous end to the regular season. The front office fired head coach Taylor Jenkins with only nine games remaining in the season, and the Grizzlies slumped out of a top six seed in the West and into the play-in.
The Grizzlies then lost their opening play-in game against the Warriors, a game during which Morant suffered an apparent ankle injury. Although his playing status for the Mavericks game was initially in doubt, Morant was suited up and ready to play. Late in the second quarter, Morant had a stat line of 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Should the Grizzlies hold on to win, they will face the Thunder in the opening round of the NBA Playoffs. With the Thunder having their own star point guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, that’s a potential matchup where the Grizzlies will need Morant to be at his best.
On the season, Morant appeared in 50 games and averaged 23.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.2 steals. He shot 45.4 percent from the field, 30.9 percent from the three-point line and 82.4 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
