Ja Morant on Friday scored a team-high 35 points as the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Golden State Warriors 117-112 in overtime to close out the play-in tournament and grab the final seed in the NBA playoffs.
Morant helped clinched the winner-take-all victory with a spinning floater from 3m with four seconds left in overtime, as the Grizzlies advanced to the playoffs for the first time in four years. The Warriors were eliminated from the postseason.
“That’s the shots I want to take,” said Morant, who also had a career high five threes. “I like it when the pressure is on me. I lift my game. I got all the confidence in the world in my game.”
Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY
The youthful Grizzlies won two straight games in the play-in tournament to earn the eighth seed and would face the top seeded Utah Jazz in the first game of their series today in Salt Lake City.
This was the second meeting between the two teams in six days as last year’s rookie of the year Morant rebounded from a poor performance in a 113-101 loss to the Warriors in the final game of the regular season.
With the 21-year-old Morant leading the way, the Grizzlies are the youngest NBA team in the postseason in a decade.
“We know we are a young team. We have some vets that lead us,” Morant said. “It is my first time making the playoffs, but we got some players who have been in playoffs before. They let us know what to expect.”
Xavier Tillman nailed a go-ahead three pointer with 87 seconds left in overtime to make it 110-109 and then Morant iced it with two short jump shots in the final minute.
The Warriors ended the regular season as one of the hottest teams in the league then lost a heartbreaker 103-100 to the Lakers on Wednesday followed by another gut-wrenching loss to the Grizzlies.
“We were two fourth quarters from being the seventh or eighth seed,” said Curry, who is in the running for league MVP. It is frustrating that this is the end and this is how we are going out.”
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