NBA bubble play-in game: 3 takeaways from Damian Lillard and the Blazers’ victory
2. Ja Morant holds his own in PG matchup
Aside from the obvious strategy of trying to slow down Damian Lillard, one of the keys to victory in the NBA bubble for Memphis was that they were going to need a good outing from their rookie point guard Ja Morant. Truth be told, that wasn’t a given considering that Morant had turned in a number of poor outings during Memphis’ eight-game slate.
In fact, Morant shot less than 40 percent from the floor in four of those outings. When these two teams met in the first game of the restart on July 31, Morant scored 22 points but connected on just seven of his 22 attempts from the field and he shot 1-for-7 from 3-point range.
Fortunately for the Grizzlies, Morant stepped up and in a big way. He was the game’s leading scorer with a career-best 35 points (including 23 in the second half), four rebounds and eight assists on 13-for-28 shooting from the field and an efficient 3-for-6 effort from beyond the arc.
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You are watching a master at work. @JaMorant | #MemphisVsErrrrbody pic.twitter.com/kyr7nGjIT8
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) August 15, 2020
Sure, Lillard did score 31 points (on 6-for-15 shooting and 14-for14 from the charity stripe) to go along with 10 assists. But it should be noted that 14 of his 15 shot attempts came from downtown.
Although Morant and the Grizzlies came up short in this one, the soon-to-be rookie of the year point guard has proven that he will be a superb talent in the NBA for many years to come.