JA MORANT AMERICAN BASKETBALL PLAYER

THE JA MORANT

Ja Morant returns from suspension, nails buzzer-beater for win

With 9.6 seconds remaining in his delayed season debut, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant fought fatigue after carrying his team

back from a 24-point deficit to tie the score against the New Orleans Pelicans.

As he used a massage gun on his calves, which he said he felt starting to cramp

during the timeout, Morant suggested a playcall: a post-up for power forward Jaren Jackson Jr.

Grizzlies shooting guard Desmond Bane, sensing the moment

and having seen Morant take over down the stretch, immediately rejected that plan.

“He told me, ‘F— no, you get the ball,'” Morant said after the Grizzlies’ 115-113 win Tuesday night. “So at that point, I pretty much just had to lock in and go deliver. And I did.”

Morant delivered in dramatic fashion, finishing his 34-point, six-rebound, eight-assist performance with the first game-winning buzzer-beater of his career. He beat Pelicans defensive stopper Herbert Jones

with a spin move in the lane before laying the ball in as time expired at the Smoothie King Center.

Morant said

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Morant silenced the New Orleans fans who booed him early in his return from a 25-game suspension

for brandishing a firearm on an Instagram Live video in May,

his second such incident in a span of two months. His teammates erupted in celebration,

as did the hundreds of Grizzlies fans in the arena, including Morant’s father, Tee, and best friend,

Davonte Pack, who sat in courtside seats on the baseline steps away from the Memphis bench.

“I feel like it was the perfect ending, perfect day,” Morant said.

“That was crazy,” said Jackson, who had 24 points in the win. “I’m glad I was a part of it. I’m glad I was in the game to witness it.”

ITS WAS SCARY

Morant had three go-ahead field goals in the final 90 seconds, all on isolation drives against Jones. That matched the most go-ahead buckets in the final 1:30 of a fourth quarter in the past 25 years,

according to ESPN Stats & Information, a feat last accomplished by Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic in 2019.

Morant had 27 of his 34 points in the second half despite struggling with his wind after an eight-month layoff from game competition,

having last played in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs in April, when the No. 2 seed Grizzlies were eliminated by a 40-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Morant used an inhaler to get an oxygen boost midway through the third quarter and again during the break before the fourth quarter.

He checked back in with 8:17 remaining, when the Grizzlies trailed by seven points, and dominated the rest of the game.

He scored 14 points in the final 7:15 — five field goals in the paint off drives and four free throws — including the Grizzlies’ final six points of the game.

MORANT WIN

“Obviously I’ve been working hard, but it’s nothing like NBA basketball,

so that’s pretty much just doing the inhaler to try to get more oxygen in the body to be able to go out there and deliver,

” Morant said. “When I got back in at that eight-minute mark, they pretty much told me, ‘You’re not coming out.

‘ I just had to lock in and just push through. [That is] pretty much my life — just continuing to push no matter what.”

Morant’s winning shot occurred at 9:01 p.m., matching the Memphis area code. It was the Grizzlies’ first game-winning buzzer-beater since a Jae Crowder 3

off a Morant assist against the Brooklyn Nets on Oct. 27, 2019,

JA MORANT AMERICAN BASKETBALL PLAYER