Grizzlies’ star Ja Morant attempted 20 Free Throws last night against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of round 1 of the playoffs
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The Memphis Grizzlies hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves yesterday for Game 1 of the playoffs. It was a high-scoring affair, with both teams looking evenly matched up. However, Anthony Edwards put on a show for the Memphis crowd and helped the Wolves seal a win on the road.
ANT scored the 4th highest points by any player in their NBA Playoffs debut, falling 6 points short of Luka Doncic for the record. Edwards ended the game with 36 points and 6 assists. Ja Morant tried his best to keep pace with ANT and the Wolves, but couldn’t manage to do so.
Morant ended the game with 32 points, 4 rebounds and 8 assists.
Ja Morant tonight: @JaMorant
35 Minutes | 32 Points | 4 Rebounds | 8 Assists
8-18 FG | 0-2 3PT | 16-20 FT | 1 Steal | 2 PF | – 16 pic.twitter.com/lVyUn5y4YD— Key (@Keyriosxty1) April 17, 2022
En route his 32 points, Ja attempted a bizarre 20 free throws, knocking down 16 of them.
Ja Morant knocked down 6 more FTs in Game 1 than Stephen Curry had in the entire 2018 WCF!
It is no secret that Stephen Curry isn’t the referee’s favorite player. More often than not, players get away with fouling Steph, and this has always bothered Dubnation. Sure, he doesn’t drive to the hoop or make trips to the paint as often as Ja Morant. However, the disparity of the FTs is no joke.
Yesterday, Ja had 20 FTs in 35 minutes, playing a single game. On the other hand, Steph played for 268 minutes through 7 games and had 14 FTs in total. That’s 6 more FTs in 6 lesser games and 231 lesser minutes.
When one thinks about it, this is absolutely crazy! Considering Steph’s position as a superstar in this league, he should be entitled to having more calls go his way. However, that hasn’t happened in his 13 seasons in the league, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change anytime soon.
Maybe, just maybe, this postseason can be the pattern breaker?