“Grizzlies beat the Thunder by 80 without Ja Morant, but lost to the same team with him???”: NBA Twitter stirs up a debate that puts a question on Grizzlies star guard’s affect on the team

As Memphis Grizzlies got their star point guard back in the starting lineup, a question stirs up, are they better off without Ja Morant?

Monday night, Ja Morant took the court at FedEx Forum after a 12-game break because of a knee sprain. As he made his comeback and played just over 28 minutes, the Memphis Grizzlies lost the game to (a 9-19) OKC Thunder.

This brings us to a question that must have entered every Grizzlies fan’s head at some point throughout the team’s 10-2 stretch without their star player — are the Grizzlies better without Morant?

Imagine being better without an All-NBA caliber player who is not just tremendously capable of delivering it in the regular season but also in the Playoffs. But statistics suggest the Grizzlies were far better playing without their dazzling point guard.

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Memphis Grizzlies without Ja Morant

Grizzlies have beaten the Miami Heat, LA Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and 7 other teams in their 12 games without Morant. They also went on a historical 5-0 run where their opponents could not even take the lead even once in those games.

So the Grizzlies beat the Thunder by 80 without Ja, but lost to the Thunder with Ja?

Might be time to have a discussion.

— Guru (@DrGuru_) December 21, 2021

With Ja, they were 9-10 to start the season. That’s what a simple eye test tells us. Getting into advanced statistics now. In their 12-game stretch without the 22-year old point guard, before the Grizzlies took on the Thunder, they were a 111.8 ppg team on the offense. With him, in the first 19 games, they were scoring 109.7 ppg.

That two-point differential barely speaks anything. But when we look at the defense, the Grizzlies are the worst-rated team in the league on defense (115.1) with Ja, without him, they are the best (99.8). But will or should the Grizzlies take something away from this? No.

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Most of those advanced stats are up because of their 73 point win against the Thunder. With almost all their players enjoying the basketball of their life, Grizzlies wouldn’t have maintained their run for long even if Ja had come back later.

Although the 102-99 loss against the OKC fits perfectly with what we just discussed, this was bound to happen anytime soon. So what if it happened at the hands of hot SGA and Co.

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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