Ja Morant

Ja Morant threw down a massive dunk over seven-footer Jakob Poeltl and scored a career-high 52 points as the Grizzlies beat the Spurs.

“It’s got to be the 50 [points],” Morant said when asked what was most memorable, adding: “I’m thankful for my teammates, my coaches. So, you combine that cerebral part of his game with his athleticism and you’ve got a special kid.” “He’s a beautiful player,” Popovich said of Morant. “What else can you say about him? Jump ball.” The arena was still buzzing from Morant’s fast-break slam late in the second quarter when Steven Adams delivered a length-of-the-court pass to Morant, who caught it mid-air and flipped in a buzzer-beater from the left baseline for a 68-58 halftime lead. Everybody says, ‘He’s athletic.’ Somebody says, ‘He’s a freak of nature,’ because he’s so fast.

This time, instead of over-the-shoulder layups or destructive alley-oop dunks, the Memphis Grizzlies superstar was defying gravity with a ridiculous halftime ...

They held Pascal Siakam to just eight points on 2 of 14 shooting but it didn’t matter, such was their abysmal play in almost every other aspect. He was trying to put it as close to the rim as he could. It’s going to be a great challenge for us to find a way to compete in these two games and see what we can get out of it.” “We really respect the way they play, how they compete. He delivered the pass, I put everything into the shot and it went in.” “I had to finish it with authority,” Morant said post-game of the dunk.