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Ja Morant was playing mind games with the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. Regardless of whether his mental gymnastics played a role, the result was a 135-119 win for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Morant directed several taunts toward Jordi Fernandez throughout the win. After hitting a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half, the Grizzlies star walked past the Nets head coach and shared words while staring him down.
He did not receive a technical for the taunt.
Morant had more to say to the Nets when checking out in the game's final minutes. He walked away before Dennis Schroder approached Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins. The Nets point guard voiced his displeasure and needed to be held back by Fernandez. Jenkins became highly animated, yelling several obscenities toward Schroder and Brooklyn's bench.
Morant, Schroder and Jenkins were issued technicals after the altercation.
Fernandez offered his opinion on Morant's antics following the loss.
“I will never speak to other players, and I don’t want other players to speak to me,” he said. “If they want to be nice, obviously, that's part of the game. If not, I don’t want any interaction. I think it’s disrespectful, and it’s not part of the game. And that's what we are projecting to everybody else, especially the little ones, is play with respect. [Have] respect for the game, whether you are a superstar or whoever you are.”
Memphis was 0-2 against Brooklyn this season entering the matchup.
Ja Morant at the center of several altercations during Grizzlies win over Nets
When asked about the motivation behind his halftime taunt, Morant said he was attempting to gain a competitive edge.
“I was trolling, just to get them riled up, and it did,” he said. “I didn't say nothing crazy. If you look at the video, I was just saying, ‘Yeah.' If ‘yeah' is disrespectful or makes you feel some type of way, then hey, so be it.”
Morant finished with a game-high 28 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists on 10-of-19 shooting. While Fernandez had strong opinions about the Memphis guard's actions, he was not pleased with Schroder's decision to respond.
“Dennis said words to the other coach, and I told him I never want any of my players to talk to the other coach,” he said of the interaction. “That's not how I want my team to behave… I just don't want that. I want to compete on the court, to fight on the court. If I have to say words, I'll say it to the officials or my players, and that's it. And if somebody does something they're not supposed to, then somebody has to judge it.”
Schroder, a 12-year NBA veteran, has emerged as the Nets' leader this season. He shared why he felt the need to react to Morant's taunts.
“Every time when I see something, I stand up for my people who I play with, who I go to war with every single night, who I get better with every single day and just try to protect them,” Schroder told the New York Post's Brian Lewis. “I was just trying to protect Jordi at the end of the day. Ja was talking, and I just tried to protect Jordi, see what’s going on. It’s no bad blood. Everybody’s competing. I respect it. But I don’t respect if you win and then you go to the coach’s face. You do that on the court — and I love it on the court. I do it as well — but respect the game when you win. Win with some class. I didn’t appreciate it.”
Tensions rose throughout the night, with Morant taunting and several Nets, including Fernandez, voicing their displeasures with missed calls. While Fernandez has emphasized that his team cannot get wrapped up in officiating, he said the referees are responsible for controlling the game.
“That's the official's job,” he said. “I can probably not say much about it. I go back to the same thing every time. I want my players to be respected, and the game is gonna be called by three guys, and they have to do their best job to be fair and consistent… Their job is extremely hard, and what we can do is control what we can control.”
“Today, there were a lot of words said, and I'm not the one judging it. So probably someone else should be asked that question… The officials are the ones who have to see certain things. My job is not to get into any of this.”
