DALLAS — An anticipatory buzz broke out within the American Airlines Center crowd when Grizzlies star Ja Morant had nothing however blue paint between him and the rim after stealing the ball close to half courtroom halfway by means of the second quarter Tuesday night time.
The followers booed when Morant — the creator of numerous viral highlights throughout his five-plus-year NBA profession — completed the quick break with a fundamental, two-hand dunk that wasn’t even exhausting sufficient to rock the rim.
“I’m not attempting to dunk in any respect,” Morant stated after Memphis’ 121-116 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks. “Y’all assume I’m mendacity. I’m useless critical.”
Morant, who has dunked solely 3 times within the 12 video games he has performed this season, is particularly making an attempt to keep away from the type of spectacular dunks over defenders that helped make him one of many league’s hottest gamers.
It’s a matter of prioritizing self-preservation for Morant, a high-flying 6-foot-2, 174-pound guard who has had sturdiness points all through his profession.
He was sidelined for eight video games final month after struggling a posterior hip subluxation and related pelvic strains when he fell awkwardly after being bumped midair by Los Angeles Lakers reserve heart Christian Koloko whereas making an attempt to catch an alley-oop.
“Sometimes I get knocked out the air and [a foul] do not get referred to as, and now I’m out longer than what I’m imagined to be,” Morant stated, explaining why he does not need to dunk in visitors. “Sometimes the foul may get referred to as; I nonetheless hit the ground, however after the sport you may really feel that little fall. So I simply choose and select, man. Hey, two factors is 2 factors. I get it accomplished. That’s all that issues.”
Morant, who’s averaging 22.0 factors and eight.6 assists for the 14-8 Grizzlies, understands that followers may really feel let down when he ends drives to the basket or quick breaks in routine style. He did not thoughts Mavs followers booing his admittedly boring dunk Tuesday night time.
“Hey, I’m tremendous with that. Continue to boo me,” Morant stated with a smile. “Hey, I bought two factors. It was nonetheless a dunk. It was simply not the dunk they wished to see. But in the event that they boo me off a bit of rim-grazer, I’m tremendous with that.”
Morant rapidly shot down a playful suggestion that he may make it as much as followers by making his debut look within the All-Star Weekend dunk contest.
“If I’m chillin’ on the in-game, you ain’t gotta fear dunk contest, both,” Morant stated. “Man, my focus proper now could be do what I can with the group and proceed to attempt to get to one hundred pc [healthy].”
