Two-time All-Star Ja Morant will have a chance Thursday night to try to top a “perfect ending.”
The dazzling Memphis Grizzlies point guard will play his first home game since ending his 25-game suspension at the start of the NBA season for his appearance in social media videos involving firearms.
Not only does Memphis need Morant on the court, the Grizzlies hope that his appearance will once again attract fans to the arena that without him seemed more like a crypt than an NBA stadium.
Because Morant was prohibited from watching games from the sidelines with his teammates, it was easier to find empty seats than fans in Memphis. The last team to win a game at home enters the game against Indiana as one of two NBA franchises with only one home win.
Morant made a splash in his return to the NBA on Tuesday night, scoring 34 points and the game-winning basket against New Orleans. The point guard called the game “the perfect ending” to a “perfect day.”
The Grizzlies president reminded fans on social media after the comeback from 24 points down that tickets were available for Thursday night’s game. By this Thursday morning there were only a few left to see a team that has an overall record of 7-19 and 1-11 in Memphis.
Fans in New Orleans booed Morant at the start. That likely won’t be the reception he will receive in Memphis in his first home game since April 26 in Game 5, when Morant and the Grizzlies avoided elimination by one game in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Morant gave a demonstration of how good the Grizzlies can be with him.
However, the franchise that finished second in the Western Conference the last two seasons and won the opening play-in games to earn the eighth place in the standings in 2021 faces an arduous task if it wants to qualify for the fourth consecutive year. the playoffs.
The Grizzlies, who hope to get offseason addition Marcus Smart back soon, enter Thursday in 12th place out of 14 teams in the West and 6 1/2 games behind Phoenix for 10th place to even earn a shot at participate in the play-in.
2023-12-21 18:17:00
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