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Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant had a little extra motivation for Wednesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and he made it clear why.
“I don’t like them,” Morant said after scoring 20 points in a 131-114 win at the FedExForum. “They knocked me out of the playoffs. And then last year we had a game, and they came here and popped it on our home floor when I was in street clothes. I wasn’t tonight.”
Morant played just 24 minutes, leaving in the third quarter because of a right hamstring injury. The Grizzlies did not have an update after the game.
Wednesday’s meeting was the first between the two teams since the penultimate game of the 2023-24 regular season, when James punctuated a 37-point performance with a breakaway dunk in the closing seconds of a 123-120 win in Memphis. Morant missed that game after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in January. The previous year, the Lakers upset the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, knocking them out in six games.
Morant hasn’t forgotten, and he let it show Wednesday night, particularly toward James.
Near the end of the first half, Morant and James went at it, exchanging baskets, each using the “too small” gesture after scores in the fray. Morant got a technical foul at one point in the battle as the crowd grew louder with each basket. A good representation of Lakers fans balanced the cheering Grizzlies faithful.
There was a hook from Morant and an ensuing free throw for a three-point play with 1:24 left in the half. Then James made an 8-foot jumper 20 seconds later. Another layup by James was followed seven seconds later by another jumper by Morant. That basket so fired up Morant that he earned the technical.
“I think I did the ‘too small’ to somebody who was too small,” Morant said afterward. “[James] came back and did it respectfully. …He did it, and I don’t back down from nobody. I don’t care who you are.
“My job was to just come back. I got my bucket, and I set the tone. My teammates fed off of it, and you see what happens. Top dog in our league. You take out the top dog, who else you fear?”
James put the exchange with Morant in the category of mutual respect — just two of the league’s top players doing their best to be better than the other.
“Just two guys from the inner city who love to compete,” said James, who had a game-high 39 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists. “That’s how we all grew up, playing on the blacktop, playing outside, competing at a high level when there was no cameras around.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.