From having his second straight All-Star campaign leading the Grizzlies to another great season to almost seeing his season shutdown, Ja Morant should consider himself lucky that he missed just 9 games for his gun controversy.
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In his return to action since, he has looked good enough to not disrupt his team’s decent form (6-3) without him. The 6ft 2’ point guard put up 17 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block in just over 23 minutes off the bench against the Rockets in a 130-125 win on Wednesday.
On Friday, when they played the 18-56 team once again, Ja recreated Michael Jordan’s “I’m back”.
Ja Morant emulates Michael Jordan’s “I’m back”
Tyler Jenkins and Morant could not have found themselves a better couple of games for the latter’s return than the two games against the Rockets. Ja made sure to put the game to bed early while scoring 18 points in almost as many minutes he played while also dishing out 8 assists.
It was one of his assists, to Xavier Tillman in the second half, which put the Grizzlies up by 21 with plenty over 8 minutes left on the clock, that made him say those magical words.
Ja Morant:
“I’m back.” 🗣️🔥
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 25, 2023
Hope this tremendous return to the game and 151-114 win, won’t go too deep inside his head. It’s just the Rockets. If it does, it’ll only hurt their contention.
Are the Grizzlies once again a threat after Ja’s comeback?
Surely it wouldn’t be a Michael Jordan-type return where the Bulls’ legend would lead his team to 3 titles after his comeback.
Or wait, this could be exactly like the season MJ returned to play basketball. When indeed Jordan made a comeback just before the 1995 Playoffs, thinking of winning it all on his return, the Bulls were eliminated in the conference semi-finals by the Orlando Magic.
Conference semi-finals should be as far as this Grizzlies team reaches, much like last season. They might have even lesser chances to make it to the Conference Finals this year than they had in the previous one.
Morant’s injury didn’t let it happen that time, his antics off the court might do it this time.
