Being equipped to handle something does not, and should not, increase its normalcy.
Case in point: Are the Grizzlies equipped at handling life without Ja Morant? Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you slice it) we’ve seen them withstand his absence in the past, yes. Does this lessen the impact of what it means when they lose their superstar? Absolutely not. And I promise you, Memphis will not win a title with 12 not on the court.
And yet… they’re going to have to try. At least for the foreseeable future.
With the news dropping Wednesday prior to the game that Morant would be missing game 2 with hand soreness the Grizzlies are in spot. Without him in the rotation, their odds at at beating a strong, effective Lakers team that is currently surging decrease dramatically. Can they advance over LA, and will they advance over La, are two entirely different questions.
Can they beat the Lakers? If Morant misses significant time? Combined with the absences of Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke? Of course they can. It’ll just be challenging. Emphasis on either really 3 or 4.
They’ll need Jare- pardon me reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Jaren Jackson Jr. to be the most dominant player on the floor throughout the series. Something he’s incredibly capable of doing mind you. Morant’s backup, Tyus Jones, is no slouch either. The relentless optimist in me can see a world where the Grizz win in 7. Plus I have my doubts on both LeBron and AD making it the full 7 games. One’s 38 years old and the other breaks easily.
Will they beat the Lakers though? Down three of the top six guys in their rotation? Against LeBron James and Anthony Davis? Already a game down in the series? Realistically? Yeah… the relentless optimist in me just jumped off a bridge thinking about that question (he hates conflict). Without Morant in the rotation soon, every single thing would need to go in the Grizzlies favor in order for them to hang around against these Lakers.
They don’t have a choice at this point. The wheels completely fell off in the final two minutes of Game 1, Memphis’ hands are tied. You can’t blame them for the loss; Morant’s injury looked particularly gnarly. But you also can’t blame the Lakers for capitalizing on the lapse and stealing a game at the Forum. It just means one thing moving forward…
It’s means the Grizzlies are a Dillon Brooks, playing ‘hero-ball’ game away from being completely out of this series. You know exactly what I’m talking about too: the games he single-handedly tries to win, God love him, to the tune of something like 2 of 19 from the field. That’ll put Memphis down 0-2, and only 7.2% of teams have advanced down 0-2 in a series in the history of the NBA playoffs.
I adore this team, but if the vehicle I’m driving has a 7.2% chance of getting me from point A. to point B — unless I’m gravely mistaken about the difference between low and high numbers, I’m feeling pretty lousy about my chances getting anywhere at 7.2%. The Grizzlies fall behind another game, we’ll all be feeling pretty lousy I’d imagine.
We’ve seen Morant exhibit an unreal ability to return from injury bizarrely fast. I imagine Memphis is holding out for a similar result here. The team definitely needs him back if they hope to avoid back to back seasons ending with an early postseason exit. Not sure that was on any of our bingo cards.