MEMPHIS – With less than six minutes to play in the fourth quarter of game one against the Los Angeles Lakers, Ja Morant landed awkwardly on his already injured right hand when attacking the basket.
Morant then left the game and ran straight to the Grizzlies locker room, only to return to the bench for the remainder of the game.
Morant finished the game with 18 points, six rebounds and two steal in the 128-112 loss. Following the game, Morant was still in pain, and feels unsure about his status for Wednesday’s game two against the Lakers.
“This season my main focus was to be out there for my guys. Now there’s another incident, where that’s pretty much in jeopardy” said Morant.
Head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies Taylor Jenkins said that Morant’s x-rays returned negative.
” He’s in some pain with the tough fall there, but more evaluations over the next few days before two games. I told the guys before the playoffs started at the beginning of the week, it’s the first to four. It’s one game at a time, we’ve shown a lot of resiliency in the previous playoffs and throughout the season” said Jenkins.
” That guy’s tough as nails. So, you know, I don’t want to put anything out of the question,” said Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane.
Grizzlies and Lakers tip-off for game two at FedExForum, on Wednesday at 6:30pm.