The Grizzlies-Warriors series has been some great basketball through three games. It’s also gotten pretty personal and pretty physical, full of ejections and suspensions.
Golden State blew out Memphis last night in Game 3, winning 142-112 to take a 2-1 series lead with Game 4 coming up Monday night in San Francisco.
Things also got physical and personal again late in the fourth quarter when Ja Morant injured his knee while being defended by Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins. After the game Morant tweeted “broke the code” with a video of the play. The “broke the code” message was clearly in reference to Warriors coach Steve Kerr who complained about Memphis’ Dillon Brooks hard foul on Gary Payton II in Game 2, saying he “broke the code.”
Here’s the tweet:
Ja Morant reacted to Jordan Poole grabbing his knee.
(via @JaMorant) pic.twitter.com/9XhvkPfYxG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 8, 2022
Morant deleted the tweet shortly after posting it.
Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins had this to say about the play after the game:
“He’s getting evaluated now. Nothing further. We just watched the replay. He was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole actually grabbed his knee and yanked it, which kind of triggered whatever happened, so I’m actually going to be very curious to see what happens after that.”
Poole said he didn’t grab Morant’s knee on purpose:
“It was a basketball play when we doubled him. And I hit the ball, and I was going for the ball. I mean, obviously, you don’t want to see anybody get hurt. I’m not even that type of player. I respect everybody.”
Game 4 is going to be intense.
Twitter had reactions.