Lakers News: Ja Morant Blames Grizzlies' Loss To LA On His Own Off-Court Misbehavior
Memphis Grizzlies All-Star point guard Ja Morant was verbose in discussing his team's six-game series defeat at the hands of your lower-seeded Los Angeles Lakers, which concluded last night in a hilarious 125-85 blowout. The 6'3" high-flying lead guard finished with 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting in the closeout Game 6 loss.
"I've just got to be better with my decision-making," Morant told gathered reporters postgame, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. "That's pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just [need] more discipline."
"I feel like mine is more off the court and on the court -- just being disciplined both sides," Morant said. "Off the court, making better decisions. On the court, being locked in even more. Being a leader of this team, it pretty much starts with me. So however I attack any situation, I know my guys will follow. I've just got to be better in that area."
If you need a refresher, over the past calendar year, Morant (who is a father, by the way) got into a physical altercation against a minor, got into a heated argument with a mall security guard, carried and displayed a gun at a Colorado gentleman's club, and had his entourage threaten Indiana Pacers personnel with laser pointers (which could be inferred as veiled threats of gun violence).
Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins, in his own postgame comments, defended his team's chemistry.
"I think we have a great culture, and your culture's going to get tested," Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins opined.
Let's keep in mind, Jenkins is referring here to a team whose culture was so great that two starters lacked the emotional fortitude to speak to the press after playoff losses, and a team whose culture was so great that its best player is publicly blaming his own entirely preventable shenanigans as being an offseason distraction his team could not weather. I guess if your culture is so great that your leader is insane
"In my opinion, this is probably that moment in time that's going to be the ultimate wake-up call. Are we going to really understand that it's the preparation and the offseason, the preparation in the season? It's what you do at work, off the court -- clearly, there are things that we've got to control and just embrace it together. How are we going to support each other throughout all this stuff? This is a journey that you go through from the start of the season to the end of the season, and it's not supposed to be easy, any of it. So are we going to take it lightly and take it for granted or we going to take a real hard look at the mirror?"
The Grizzlies were missing two of their top seven players, starting center Steven Adams and reserve power forward/center Brandon Clarke, for the entire series. They were also without Morant for a game (although they won that game) and were missing floor-spacer Luke Kennard for a contest. Even still, they had the talent, depth and athleticism to challenge LA more than they ultimately did.
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