Ja Morant shrugged off a sprained proper ankle to attain 22 factors and add 9 assists, and the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Dallas Mavericks 120-106 on Friday night time to advance to the NBA playoffs.
Memphis secured the Western Convention’s eighth seed and can open towards top-seeded Oklahoma Metropolis in a best-of-seven collection starting Sunday on the Thunder‘s house courtroom.
Morant did extra than simply play. He delivered an exhilarating begin that included a high-flying, one-handed slam of a dunk that had teammate Desmond Bane yelling “Showtime!” at him in celebration as Morant elevated a lot his eyes have been stage with the rim.
Morant was injured Tuesday night time at Golden State within the Grizzlies’ play-in opener and was questionable to play Friday.
“I could not really feel it … so I used to be on the market,” Morant stated with amusing.
Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis with 24 factors, and Bane had 22.
Anthony Davis led Dallas with 40 factors and 9 rebounds. Klay Thompson had 18 factors.
Davis limped off within the fourth quarter with what seemed to be a proper calf damage. He returned briefly, however did not end the sport.
Memphis noticed a 25-point first-half lead melting away within the third quarter because the Mavericks crafted a 27-12 run spanning halftime. That introduced the Mavericks’ deficit to single digits halfway by means of the third.
The Grizzlies stretched the lead again to 96-80 heading into the ultimate quarter and Dallas by no means threatened the remainder of the best way.
The Mavericks closed the primary half with eight straight factors to chop it to 66-49.
Davis had 22 within the half, whereas Morant had 16 factors for Memphis.
Dallas, which beat Sacramento 120-106 on Wednesday night time to earn a spot towards the Grizzlies, did not appear to have the identical spark to start out the sport, by no means main towards Memphis.
Davis did his half to punch up the Dallas offensive assault, however Memphis countered with balanced scoring.
Zach Edey had 15 factors and 11 rebounds for Memphis, and Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 13 factors.
Reporting by The Related Press.
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