UPDATED 5/10, 6:12 p.m. ET: According to ESPN, the Grizzles announced Ja Morant is doubtful for the rest of the playoffs due to a bone bruise in his knee.
See original story below.
Following the Memphis Grizzles’ 142-112 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3, Ja Morant wanted to set the record straight about his knee injury.
Morant got injured late in the fourth quarter and was visibly limping off the court during a timeout. After the game, he tweeted and deleted a clip of his apparent knee injury. He wrote “broke the code,” in reference to Warriors coach Steve Kerr saying Dillon Brooks “broke the code” when he earned a flagrant 2 foul for a hard hit on Gary Payton II in Game 2.
Grizzles head coach Taylor Jenkins seems to think it was intentional and that his knee was “yanked.” Jenkins says Morant is being evaluated.
“He was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole grabbed his knee and yanked it,” Jenkins said. “I’m going to be very curious to see what happens after that.”
During the postgame presser, Poole was shown the video of him allegedly grabbing Morant’s knee. He said,
“It was a basketball play…I hit the ball and I was going for the ball. Obviously you don’t want to see anybody get hurt. I’m not even that type of player. I respect everybody. Hopefully he gets better.”
Morant had 34 points, three rebounds, seven assists and three steals before his injury. He got everyone excited when he hit a shot at half court before the buzzer.
Game 4 is scheduled for Monday at Chase Center at 10 p.m. ET, with the Warriors leading the series 2-1.
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