Plenty of bad blood came to a boil toward the end of the Memphis Grizzlies' 135-119 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
With 1:11 remaining, Grizzlies star guard Ja Morant committed an intentional foul to stop play so Memphis could get their substitutes in to finish out the blowout win. As he made the foul and the whistle was blown, Morant had some words for the Brooklyn bench in the direction of Nets head coach Jordi Fernández.
What followed was double technicals for Morant and Nets guard Dennis Schröder, plus an outburst from Memphis' coach Taylor Jenkins, which brought an additional technical foul.
As time expired on the game clock, Schröder went up to Jenkins during his postgame handshake with Fernandez. The situation briefly escalated from there as the two teams, including Morant, met to exchange words at center court as Jenkins power walked back to the locker room.
Morant explained what led to the interaction after the game.
"On my end, I was trolling, just to get them riled up," Morant told reporters Friday night after the game. "And they did. It wasn't too much on my side. I even told coach (Jenkins) that, that I was trolling, so he was good. I don't know what was said on their end to have coach (Jenkins) like that, but at the end I just went to make sure coach was good."
Earlier in the game, Morant hit a jumper as time expired in the first half, then stared down Brooklyn's bench and specifically Fernández.
Ja Morant hits a buzzer-beater, than has a stare-down with Jordi Fernández. Hmm pic.twitter.com/qSriQM45pF
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) December 14, 2024
The moment built some tension as the game headed to its close. For Morant, though, it was all mind games.
The Grizzlies (18-8) are back in action against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ja Morant Explains Trash Talk That Led to Nets-Grizzlies Confrontation.
