Grizzlies’ Taylor Jenkins Claims Poole "Triggered" Morant's Knee Injury In Game 3

Ja Morant appeared to suffer a right knee injury in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 142-112 loss to the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 on Saturday night and Grizzlies’ head coach Taylor Jenkins claimed that Jordan Poole injured his All-Star.

Game 3 between the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors featured a lot of physicality and emotion for a game that ended up being a 30-point Warriors’ victory.

Late in the fourth quarter, Grizzlies’ All-Star Ja Morant was fighting for a loose ball with Warriors’ Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins when he appeared to suffer some sort of a right knee injury.

Poole was behind Morant on the play and went to reach around him to make a play on the ball, but he ended up grabbing Morant’s knee briefly, which has triggered many to claim this is where the Grizzlies’ All-Star hurt his knee in the game, including head coach Taylor Jenkins.

Ja was frustrated after an apparent injury on this play.

Hope he's okay 🙏 pic.twitter.com/aXt1GNFkSQ

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) May 8, 2022

In his postgame press conference, Jenkins addressed the situation and claimed that Jordan Poole’s grabbing of Ja Morant’s knee subsequently triggered this injury late in the game.

“We just watched the replay," Jenkins said. "He was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole actually grabbed his knee and yanked it, which kind of triggered whatever happened, so I am actually going to be very curious to see what happens after that."

Taylor Jenkins insinuates Poole “triggered” Ja’s apparent injury in the fourth quarter pic.twitter.com/3xyKREevS8

— Warriors on NBCS (@NBCSWarriors) May 8, 2022

This series has been full of physicality and both teams have ended up on the receiving-end of unnecessary contact and discipline.

In Game 1, Warriors’ Draymond Green was ejected after receiving a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 for fouling Grizzlies’ big man Brandon Clarke on the head and then dragging him down by his jersey.

In Game 2, Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks was ejected after receiving a Flagrant Foul Penalty 2 for a very hard foul on Warriors’ Gary Payton II while Payton was airborne going for a layup. Brooks fouled Payton on the head, resulting in him losing his balance in the air and falling hard on his left arm/elbow. Payton was later diagnosed with a fracture in his left elbow.

Now in Game 3, Ja Morant appeared to suffer some sort of a right knee injury and he was even seen limping as he left the arena after the game.

According to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Jenkins also said in his postgame remarks that the team will discuss it first when asked about if they will ask the league to look into this play between Poole and Morant.

The Warriors will host the Grizzlies in Game 4 of this Western Conference series on Monday night. Golden State now leads Memphis 2-1 in the series. 

Related stories on NBA basketball

• Ja Morant Seen Leaving Arena With Visible Limp After Game 3 Knee Injury: Memphis Grizzlies’ All-Star Ja Morant appeared to suffer a right knee injury in Saturday night’s loss in Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors and was seen leaving the arena limping. CLICK HERE.
• Ja Morant's Deleted Tweet After Game 3: Ja Morant sent out a tweet after the Memphis Grizzlies lost Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors, but the tweet has now been deleted. CLICK HERE.