The up-and-coming Grizzlies were trash-talkers of the highest order, but things got quiet last season when injuries decimated the roster.
The loud, in-your-face Grizzlies were back Wednesday as their team handed the Lakers their fourth loss in five games — and it started with Ja Morant. He went back and forth with LeBron James, exchanging buckets and each using the “too small” gesture after scoring. After the game, Morant did not back down, saying he was no Lakers fan.
“I don’t like them,” Morant said postgame. “They knocked me out the playoffs and then last year they were talking crazy while I was in street clothes… not tonight, though.”
Morant and LeBron were respectful of each other, though neither was backing down.
“I think I did the ‘too small’ to somebody who was too small,” Morant said, via the Associated Press. “He came back and did it respectfully… He did it, and I don’t back down from nobody. I don’t care who you are.
“My job was to just come back. I got my bucket, and I set the tone. My teammates fed off of it, and you see what happens. Top dog in our league. You take out the top dog, who else you fear?”
“Just two guys from the inner city who love to compete,” James said of the battle with Morant. “That’s how we all grew up, playing on the blacktop, playing outside, competing at a high level when there was no cameras around.”
Memphis’ depth and effort won them the game, 131-114. Both teams were shorthanded and without their second-best player — the Lakers missed Anthony Davis (left heel contusion) and Rui Hachimura (illness), while the Grizzlies were without Desmond Bane (oblique strain), Marcus Smart (ankle sprain), Luke Kennard (foot) and G.G. Jackson (foot) — but Memphis had depth and got 20 points each from Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jaylen Wells on their way to having seven players in double figures.
The Lakers got 39 from the ageless LeBron but coach J.J. Redick called out the effort of just everyone else — then stormed out of his press conference.
That took eight games.
Redick has done well adding motion and some smart sets to the Lakers’ offense, he’s been fantastic. But maybe, ultimately, the problem isn’t whether the coach is Redick or Darvin Ham or Frank Vogel. Maybe the issue is the roster the front office has assembled.
