Play.
Ja Morant dunked against the Nets.
Ja Morant slams one in for the team. (0:17)
12:14 AM
The chatter about whether Ja Morant should make his first All-Star Game this season has been heard by the Memphis guard.
After Morant had a game-high plus 24 in 33 minutes of a 118-104 Memphis victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, people are having the wrong debate.
"He's special," said Bane, whose 29 points helped propel Memphis to a fifth straight win. I think we should be debating whether he's the best point guard in the league, because people debate whether or not he should be an All-Star.
I think he's an All-Star. Is he the best point guard in the league?
Morant will have a hard time earning the title of Bay Area No. 30 because of his trade in the area. The third-year guard has officially arrived as a star.
Morant scored 41 points to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Memphis, Tennessee. On Monday, it was Kevin Durant's turn to see Morant slice and dice his way through an opponent, as the Grizzlies continue to firmly establish themselves as a top-four seed in the Western Conference.
"He's always been an efficient player who can run the point guard spot, and I think that's why he's controlling the game and scoring 26 points," said KD, who was inefficient in finishing 8-for-24 from the floor. He's become a major scorer as well. He plays with joy and enthusiasm and you can see that he has blossomed in front of our eyes.
He's been on this path since college. I can't wait to see what the future holds for basketball.
Morant's present is already pretty good, as he demonstrated in the third quarter, when he scored nine points in a row to help the team blow open a game that Memphis led by six at the half.
Morant scored half of his 36 points in the 12 minutes he was on the field.
While the highlights likely will focus on his dunk, it was his repeated attacks through Brooklyn's defense that were more impressive.
Morant said to stay aggressive in the third quarter. We played well in the first half, but we didn't get out and run as much.
My job is to push the pace, whether it's me pushing the ball down the floor or kicking the ball ahead. I was able to find my teammates.
The Memphis team is currently 10 games over.500 and is in the middle of a group of teams fighting for the last playoff spot in the Western Conference.
It was a dominant performance, one that saw Memphis outrebound Brooklyn by 29 and was far more dominant than the final score indicated, thanks to a meaningless run by the Brooklyn bench in the fourth quarter. Nets coach Steve Nash's assessment of his team's play since recovering from a teamwide COVID-19 outbreak remained the same.
Nash said that that was embarrassing. "We got kicked in the butt, and we need to do a lot better to get back to the standard that we played at before."
The team Memphis has built around Morant has allowed it to keep winning even if someone else is available.
Morant is the engine that makes the team go, despite the fact that the team is not only surviving, but thriving, while shuttling players in and out of the lineup.
"Obviously I've come out and said he's an All-Star, but I think the follow-up to that is because he impacts winning," he said. His style of play is whatever his teammates need, but he cares about what his teammates think, and that's all he cares about.
Morant said he wouldn't do any campaigning through the media. He said he would let his game do the talking for him.
He said that he doesn't focus on it too much. I'm a very humble guy, but I'm also confident, that's what everybody who knows me knows.
"So I'm going to let my teammates talk for me," he said. I'm going to go out there and help prove their case even more.
