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Having all of the momentum, Ja Morant tried to end it before halftime. A fastbreak dunk attempt turned scary as he fell hard on his hip and was in agony the moment he slammed onto the court. A rocking FedExForum went radio silent like it was a funeral.
Morant went for a poster against Lu Dort as the Grizzlies had the two-on-one advantage with Scotty Pippen Jr. Instead, he smacked into Dort mid-air to change his trajectory and fall hard.
Morant got up to take both of his free-throw attempts. He checked out for the final time. The Grizzlies entered halftime with a 77-51 lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder, but that became secondary to their franchise star's status. He was ruled out for the second half with a hip injury.
Like a dark cloud hanging over the arena, the Thunder slowly chipped away from their 29-point deficit. The Grizzlies were held to just 31 points in the second half. A lack of a playmaker muddied up their offense. OKC eventually did the unthinkable and mounted a shocking Game 3 win to go up 3-0 in the Round 1 series.
Talk about a brutal way to see your season essentially end. The Grizzlies still have a game to play, but all of their momentum is gone. Morant being on crutches likely means he won't be available for Game 4. That puts the Thunder in a prime spot to sweep.
After the play, social media was flooded with Dort being called dirty for the play. As the Thunder became a household team that dominated teams and played on national television every other game, his hard-nosed style of defense rubbed folks the wrong way.
This was the latest example. Despite that, the Thunder believe Morant's injury was a freak play that happens in a physical sport like basketball, especially when the intensity gets multiplied tenfold in a do-or-die situation like Game 3 was for the Grizzlies.
“Tough one. I hope he's OK. I was running back, making the hustle play for my team. I was running quick, stopped on the dime. I didn't know he was behind me and I was slipping," Dort said. "Tried to make a play on the ball, but we just ran into each other, he fell down. Obviously they need him. I didn’t mean to hit him like that.”
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault expressed a similar sentiment. While it's scary to see Morant suffer another grueling injury, he doesn't believe there was any malicious intent, despite what the NBA Twitter trolls might think.
“I never want to see anybody get hurt,” Daigneault said. “I hope he’s OK. You want everybody to be at full strength. He’s a great competitor. He was playing great. Obviously that had something to do with the game as well. It would be wrong of me not to acknowledge that. But I think it was a clean play. I think everybody was just playing hard. It was unfortunate, and I hope he’s all right.”
For Dort, he doesn't care what other fans think. Let the boos come. He knows his style of play has turned him from an undrafted rookie into being in a Defensive Player of the Year conversation this season. There's no reason to stop to appease folks online.
“They can say whatever,” Dort said of those who label him dirty. “It was big that he still got up and shot the free throws. When he was at the line, I dapped him up and I apologized. It’s never good when a good player like that goes down."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Lu Dort hopes Ja Morant is OK after scary injury
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