Stephen A believes Grizz likely beat Warriors if Morant wasn't injured

Stephen A believes Grizz likely beat Warriors if Morant wasn't injured originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Could the Memphis Grizzlies have walked away with a win against the Warriors on Monday at Chase Center if star guard Ja Morant wouldn’t have sustained an ankle injury during the third quarter?

Without discounting Golden State’s merit in its 121-116 win over Memphis, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith believes so.

“But in the same breath, let’s make sure we understand partially anyways what happened,” Smith said Wednesday on “First Take.”  “Ja Morant did get hurt. And if Ja Morant, considering some of the plays that he was making, had remained healthy throughout…” 

In the dying minutes of the third quarter of Tuesday night’s pivotal NBA Play-In Tournament game, Morant landed awkwardly on the foot of Warriors guard Buddy Hield. 

Soon after Memphis’ medical staff attended to Morant, the 25-year-old limped to the charity line and sank a free throw before hobbling back to the bench. 

Morant scored a team-high 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting before sustaining the injury. He returned with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter and finished with 22 points.

As Smith argued, the Grizzlies, despite experiencing noticeable ups and downs throughout the game, fought until the end behind the likes of its star players. 

“You look at Desmond Bane and what he was doing,” Smith added. “Jaren Jackson looked alive a little bit late. You saw Ja Morant and how he tried to play through the obvious pain from that ankle injury.”

In sports there’s no shortage of what-ifs, and, merely, that’s what Smith is proposing. 

“I would just look at it from that standpoint – not taking anything away from the Golden State Warriors,” Smith concluded.

“But you did find yourself saying, especially in the end, if Ja Morant had not gotten hurt, we might be saying something different this morning.”

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