With Ja Morant, you are spoiled for choice. The electric Memphis Grizzlies point guard regales every night, and his record-breaking outing on Monday against the San Antonio Spurs – 52 points, best personal mark and in franchise history – will go down in history this season. regular. Because beyond the balance sheet, accompanied by a good marksmanship (22 out of 30, 4 out of 4 at three points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists), the leaping 22-year-old player has multiplied the actions worthy of going around of the planet a few hours. Starting with this thunderous dunk slammed over Jakob Poeltl, 2.13m, first surprised by the audacity of his opposite at the end of the second quarter.
While he had already enjoyed a three-point shot scored almost 10 meters from the basket, Morant punctuated the second quarter with a buzzer shot, off balance, without angle, when there was no only four tenths to play. Fallen into the arms of the players on his bench, the native of Dalzell (South Carolina) joined the locker room with 29 points scored.
“A Special Kid” – Gregg Popovich (San Antonio)
If he had less impact on the return from the locker room – 23 points all the same – Morant above all benefited from the full confidence of his partners, who showered him with balloons when the symbolic bar of 50 points scored approached. Enough to make the evening memorable for the main interested party, who also admitted preferring to retain “the 50 points scored” rather than the highlights. «I am grateful to my teammates, my coacheshe thanked. They believe in me and have all the confidence in the world that I’m going to make the right choices.»
Not the most stingy with compliments, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who in the loss (105-118) failed to tie Don Nelson for the regular season win record (1,335), did not miss the opportunity to emphasize how unique Morant is: “He’s a nice player. What more can we say? He’s not just athletic. Everyone says that. Some say ”it’s an anomaly of nature” because he is so fast… But he makes decisions. He knows what he is doing on the field. So you combine that cerebral aspect of his game with his athletic side and you get a special kid.»
40,5
Over his last four matches, Ja Morant has averaged 40.5 points. With the exception of an exit to only 20 units, in recovery after the All-Star Game, the leader has systematically exceeded 40 points scored (44, 46 and 52).
In the wake of its phenomenon, Memphis won its 43rd victory of the season (20 losses), as many as the Golden State Warriors, second in the Western Conference, who have two fewer games (18 losses). The Grizzlies now have a little time off since they won’t play until Thursday night in Boston.
