"Grandma if you're watching that game there was for you" - An emotional Ja Morant dedicates his 40-piece against the San Antonio Spurs to his grandmother
Ja Morant is making heads turn in the NBA this season. Morant tied his season-high of 41 points, helping the Memphis Grizzlies edge past the San Antonio Spurs with a 118-110 victory on Wednesday night. Morant shot an efficient 15-of-28 from the floor and had eight assists and five rebounds to go with his third 40-point game of the season.
Another special night for @JaMorant 🥷
41 points | 8 assists | 5 rebounds | 2 steals | 8-10 FT https://t.co/qOCJ5X8uj6
Morant put up a remarkably efficient game for the Grizzlies even as his grandmother struggled to fight cancer. Morant, who is on the verge of being announced as an All-Star starter on January 27 in the Western Conference, skipped practice with the Grizzlies on Tuesday because of his grandmother's health situation.
When asked where will he watch the All-Star starters announcement, Morant replied he would be with his grandmother. He said:
"Pretty much hoping I can go spend my time with my grandma, man. Watch it there. Pretty much why I sat out. It's tough. I was just trying to process everything. Now I'm kind of frustrated, my flight got canceled to go see her. I'm just trying to find a way to my grandma. Grandma, if you're watching, that game there was for you. We can enjoy the announcement together. "
"Grandma if you're watching that game there was for you. "
- @JaMorant https://t.co/tKg7mKsqVD
Ja Morant scores 26 of his 41 points in the second half as Memphis Grizzlies top San Antonio Spurs
The contest against San Antonio was a close one for Memphis. They were up 61-58 at the half and had to contend with a tied game (106-106) with four minutes left to play.
Ja Morant got the Grizzlies the win in these circumstances. He scored 26 of his 41 points in the second half and knocked down six crucial free-throws in the last two minutes of the game to help the Grizzlies pull away for the victory.
With tonight's win at San Antonio, the @memgrizz improved to 15-6 in "clutch" games (when the margin is +/- 5 points within the final 5 minutes of the 4Q or OT).
Memphis has the second-best "clutch" winning percentage (.714) in the NBA this season. https://t.co/JR1DLXQ0kx
Commenting on his own performance and how he managed to get Memphis the win, Morant said:
"I wanted to win. With this team [San Antonio Spurs], they play hard for the full 48 minutes. We knew they was going to battle back, game of runs. We just had to get all the 50-50 balls. We had to be the ones who wanted it more, late down the stretch that's what we did, executed on the offensive end and then knocked down our free throws."
If Ja Morant gets announced as an All-Star starter, it will mark his All-Star debut too. Morant is averaging career-best numbers across scoring (25.8 ppg), field-goal shooting (48.9%), three-point shooting (35.8%) and rebounding (5.9 rpg) in what is his third NBA season.