Ja Morant just gave us one of *those* playoff moments.
Ja Morant is just 22 years old but he’s already given us some absolutely classic moments in these playoffs.
And I’m not just talking about his vicious dunk over Malik Beasley — although, yes, that definitely counts. No idea what Beasley did to Morant to deserve that other than stand in the way, but I’ll enjoy it nonetheless.
But it was really everything that happened after that that solidified Morant’s night.
We’ll remember it as one of the ones that he solidified his status as an absolute superstar in the NBA with his performances. He legitimately made plays that only all-time great NBA players make.
He gave us moments that were eerily similar to plays made by one of the best players ever: LeBron James.
Yes, you read that correctly. Before you go away, though, just take a look below:
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Normally, when it comes to sports and so many other things in life, I am a person who is completely here for the trash talk.
It builds character! You’ve got to be able to talk a little smack to your opponent because, at some point, you’re going to run into someone who is going to talk smack to you. And you have to be able to respond to that smack talk in kind.
But, clearly, Karl-Anthony Towns needs to stop talking trash to the Memphis Grizzlies and their fans. Or really saying anything to them, rather. Not hi or bye. Good morning. Good evening. Nothing. Just play ball.
Because every time in this series when Towns has said anything to or about the Grizzlies, a furious comeback follows. We have two examples of this already.
Then, you have the game last night, where Towns hushed the crowd after hitting a 3-pointer to give the Wolves a 13-point lead. 10 minutes left in the game.
And, well, I’m sure you already know what happened after this. A furious comeback. Minnesota was outscored 32-17 the rest of the way here, capped off by this incredible game-winning layup from Ja Morant.
Sheeesh. That’s a rough way to go out. Especially after dishing out a hush just 10 minutes before. This is not a good look — at all.
But it’s also kind of becoming a thing with Towns. And it’s certainly not one of those things that you want to see become a thing. Especially not if you’re a Timberwolves fan.
So, yeah. It’s understandable to want to stay unfiltered in that moment and remain present. Towns should keep doing him. But if doing him keeps leading to this kind of thing? Might want to change up before game 6.
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Ain’t nobody else flying through the air like this.
We’ve only been talking about a handful of players who might win the MVP award this season.
It’s been centered (pun intended) around Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. Giannis Antetokounmpo is in the discussion, too. DeMar DeRozan has made a pretty great case for himself lately as well.
But, uh, Ja Morant, y’all.
Look, I don’t know if he’ll win the MVP. All of these historic seasons from around the league are pretty insane. But I can honestly say — on a night-to-night basis — there isn’t a player around the league wow-ing anyone more.
This dude looks like a superhero. He just flies through the air and puts the ball in the hoop.
And I’m not saying that figuratively. I mean, literally. He’s flying through the air and putting the ball in the hoop. Monday night’s 52-point barrage against the Spurs proves it.
Here he is dunking on Jakob Poeltl’s head — one of the best defensive centers in the NBA.
The NBA world held its collective breath on Thursday night when he left the Timberwolves game with an apparent injury.
He went to make a move with the ball and took an awkward step that ended in what looked like some sort of hip injury. It wasn’t a good look at all and was pretty concerning for one of the most fearless NBA players in the league.
Do you know who wasn’t worried at all, though? Ja’s daughter, Kaari. She was watching from home with her mom and the two-year-old immediately knew her dad was going to be alright.
She immediately said “Dad OK” and it was the most adorable thing ever.
Turns out she was right. Though he didn’t come back for the night, Morant got right up and walked off under his own power. We don’t know what this is long-term, but it seems like Ja is going to be OK. And that’s a relief for everyone.
We should all just listen to Kaari next time. NBA fans absolutely loved this.
This has to be one of the weirdest occurrences in NBA history. I don’t even know quite how to accurately describe it.
The best way to put it is this: Desmond Bane just had one of the most bizarre games you’ll ever see. On a regular night, we’d just describe it as an “off night.” He didn’t shoot the ball well at all after going 4-18 from the field.
For those doing the math, that’s 22% from the floor. But that’s where things just start to get weird.
Bane also had two blocks, two assists, two steals, two fouls and two turnovers. That’s already a whooooole lot of twos on top of the 22% from the field.
But — oh, wait! — I forgot to mention that Bane’s number is actually 22. And he did all of this on February 2nd in 2022. Number 22 dropped all these 2s on 2/2/22.
Ja Morant is absolutely cold-blooded, man. This dude is a beast. Not only will he hit a game-sealing shot on your team, but he’ll also stare down children after doing it.
Yes, literal children. This man knows no boundaries.
That’s what happened on Tuesday night against the Warriors. Morant hit a layup and drew a foul with about 30 seconds left to seal the game for the Grizzlies against a tough Warriors team.
And then he walked into the crowd and stared down a child in a Steph Curry jersey. Absolutely stared into this boy’s soul, y’all. I have never seen this before.
Ja Morant on the kid with the Steph jersey 😂
"He was disrespectful with that jersey on. We in Memphis. It looked like he wanted to cheer but he had that jersey on. I apologized to him but in that moment, bro, take that jersey off and then dap me up." pic.twitter.com/t5NFzc2jcq
In September of 2020, HoopsHype polled 15 NBA talent evaluators and asked them to rank their top five Under 25 players to build around. We have repeated the exercise with 17 NBA executives this time. There was no change at No. 1, but quite a few after that.
Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic remains the first choice, though he’s no longer the consensus pick after a somewhat disappointing first half of the season in which he’s still playing himself into shape.
Boston’s Jayson Tatum barely retains No. 2 with half the share of the vote of last season while Ja Morant moves up to No. 3.
LaMelo Ball and Trae Young went from no votes to cracking the top five.
In our scoring system, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point for each ballot.
Stephen Curry enters 2022 as the leading contender for the MVP award with Kevin Durant in striking distance and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic also lurking.
To determine the top contenders for the MVP award, HoopsHype anonymously polled 20 media members who voted on last year’s official NBA awards for their current top five MVP rankings.
As with the official vote, the top player received 10 points, the second received seven points, the third received five points, the fourth received three points, and the fifth player received one point for each ballot.
Look, the NBA season is only a week old. Paying attention to any stats or looking for trends at this point is a fool’s errand.
So y’all can just call me a fool then. I truly couldn’t help myself.
I logged on to NBA.com’s stats to see which teams were doing what and, holy cow, are there some absolutely nonsensical things going on in the NBA right now.
The Grizzlies look incredible and awful at the same time. The Knicks are chucking ridiculous amounts of 3’s. The Thunder are Thundering at astronomical Thunder levels. Oh, and the Magic are Thundering, too. Harder than anyone has ever Thundered before — well, except the Thunder.
Anyway, there’s a lot happening right now that doesn’t matter and doesn’t make any sense. But thanks to NBA.com’s stats as well as StatMuse’s research tool, we recorded them all here for you.
Klay Thompson has been away from the game of basketball for two consecutive seasons because of injury. First, a torn ACL. Next, a torn Achilles tendon.
Conventional wisdom says that he probably won’t ever be the same player he was before those injuries. They’re both difficult ones to come back from — particularly the Achilles.
Despite that, though, Thompson said he’s “never been hungrier” to return — especially after the Warriors’ loss to the Grizzlies.
After the loss, Thompson took to Instagram and talked about how proud he was of his teammates and what they had to overcome this season. He also said that the trials they went through will help for next season.
But more than that, though, he said he’s ready to make his return.
“I’ve got to watch a lot of hoops the last 2 years, and figured out quick it’s not my specialty. While our season comes to an end, mines just getting started and I’ve never been hungrier. I truly believe my best ball lies ahead of me. We ain’t done I promise you that.”
That sounds like a man ready to play ball. You can tell he was itching to get on the floor against Memphis. Here he is going nuts on the sideline watching the game.
A restless Klay Thompson helplessly watching the Warriors season end last night pic.twitter.com/rVJEGjYNTW
