The Memphis Grizzlies could not afford to lose game two at home to the Golden State Warriors after missing an opportunity to win game one at the buzzer--and Ja Morant made sure that the Grizzlies prevailed, tying his playoff career high with 47 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter when neither team led by more than four points until the final seconds. Memphis' 106-101 victory tied the series at 1-1, and showed that the Grizzlies are not suffering any lingering aftereffects from squandering a 13 point lead in the first game. Morant was masterful from start to finish, shooting 15-31 from the field (including 5-12 from three point range) and 12-13 from the free throw line while tying for the team lead in rebounds (eight) and leading the team in assists (eight). He had three steals and just two turnovers.
Morant joins a select group of players who notched at least two 45 point playoff games before the age of 25, including Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Morant is also the youngest player to post 47-8-8 in a playoff game, breaking a mark held by James. James and Russell Westbrook are the only players to have two such playoff games.
Memphis' next leading scorer was Ziaire Williams (14 points). Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 12 points before fouling out, but he shot just 3-14 from the field. Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 27 points, but he shot 11-25 from the field, and he had three of his five turnovers in the fourth quarter. Jordan Poole added 20 points on 8-16 field goal shooting. Andrew Wiggins scored 16 points and had nine rebounds, but he shot 6-16 from the field. Klay Thompson scored 12 points on 5-19 field goal shooting, including 2-12 from three point range.
The game got off to a very rough start. With 9:08 remaining in first quarter, Dillon Brooks received a flagrant foul penalty 2 (and automatic ejection) for the windup, impact and follow through as he hit Gary Payton II in the head and knocked Payton out of the air as Payton drove to the hoop for a fast break layup. Payton II suffered a broken elbow after taking a very hard landing on the play. Golden State Coach Steve Kerr called the play "dirty" and said that Brooks had broken the players' code to not hit a vulnerable player in midair in a way that could injure that player. I would say that a dirty play consists of an unsportsmanlike act intended to seriously injure another player; for example, the repeated times that Warrior Draymond Green has struck opposing players below the belt are dirty plays. In contrast, Brooks' play was reckless: he is not a shot blocker and he barely even jumped before hitting Payton, so Brooks would have been well-advised to simply wrap Payton up to prevent Payton from attempting a shot. Swinging wildly to block the shot was (1) not likely to result in a blocked shot and (2) running the risk of injuring Payton. Coaches cannot insist that the "no layup" rule applies in the playoffs and then say that it is a dirty play to try to prevent an opposing player from making a layup--but there is no doubt that Brooks made a reckless play that warranted receiving a flagrant foul penalty 2, and the play was reckless enough (and caused a serious enough injury) that the league has to at least consider suspending Brooks. The point of the flagrant foul rule and of suspending players is to encourage players to not only avoid dirty plays but also to avoid reckless plays.
The Grizzlies led 8-0 when Brooks was ejected, but the Warriors settled down, and pulled to within 56-51 at halftime. Morant already had 23 points on 7-12 field goal shooting at intermission. The Warriors tied the score at 77 heading into the fourth quarter, and after the Warriors took the lead early in the final stanza you could picture the "experts" writing game stories about how the veteran Warriors outplayed the young Grizzlies--but the team that is supposed to have "championship DNA" and more experience in "this environment" lost the game after shooting 2-7 from the field in the final 3:11 as Memphis outscored Golden State 13-4 down the stretch. Morant scored Memphis' final 15 points of the game. How rare is that? The last player who scored his team's final 15 points or more in a playoff victory was LeBron James, who scored Cleveland's final 25 points in an instant classic game five Eastern Conference Finals win versus Detroit.
The Warriors are 13-13 this season in games decided by five points or less. The "stat gurus" will insist that the Warriors do not miss Kevin Durant because Stephen Curry is a better player than Durant, but the rest of us know better.
There are a lot of different ways of looking at this series, but the outcome will probably not be decided until the final moments of game seven. Golden State has the advantage on paper heading home for two games after getting the split on the road, but the Grizzlies are more than capable of winning at least one of the next two road games. Any Golden State happiness about being in the driver's seat for the moment should be tempered by the reality that the Grizzlies are one Morant layup away from being up 2-0.