Ja Morant Dropped 28 Points In A Single Quarter Tonight Against The Lakers While Doing Some Insanely Cool Shit

Justin Ford. Getty Images.

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Ja Morant did not have the best start to tonight's game against the desperate-for-wins Lakers. He began the game with a 1-6 (0-3) start in the first quarter, but did find ways to create for others with 3 assists. He didn't have anything at the rim, so you figure it was going to be easy for him to snap out of it in his second shift. Unfortunately, he went 2-8 in the second quarter. This time, 7 of his 8 shots were at the rim/in the paint. That is very unusual for a player like Ja Morant, a guy who not only can levitate in ways that shouldn't be humanly possible but a player that shoots 62% in the restricted area. If Ja is getting to the rim, that's almost always two points.

The beauty of basketball is that things can change in an instant. A single possession can completely change everything, not just for a team, but for a player as well. For the elites of the league, one possession is usually all they need. Fortunately for Ja Morant, he's one of those guys

His 3rd quarter eruption of 28 points on 10-12 shooting narrowly passes Darius Garland's 27 for the highest scoring quarter of the season, and if you're interested in where that ranks all time, the answer is tied with 5 other guys for 12th. A couple of guys did it more than once

As you can see, the last time we saw someone have at least 28 in a quarter was KAT last March (Luka did it the month before), but it's not like this happens all the time. By law, I must shoutout Isaiah Thomas for that 2016 game during his top 5 MVP season, that ruled. What a monster he was that year.

In the end, Ja finished with a pretty decent 39/10/10 on 15-29 (0-5) and 9-11 from the line while being a Grizzlie best +14. More importantly, the Grizzlies got a much needed win. They've sort of been fuckin up since Steven Adams went down on 1/23. Since that moment, the Grizzlies are just 6-8 with the 24th ranked offense, 6th ranked defense, and the 22nd ranked net rating. Remember, this is the same team that had a brutal stretch where they went 1-8, then lost to the Celts and Sixers. For a team that loves to talk, they weren't exactly backing it up. 

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Then came the big win over the Nuggets and now the Lakers. The Grizzlies are proving to be two completely different teams depending on where they play. If you have to go into their building? Good luck. They're 26-5. Play them in your building? You gotta love your chances considering the Grizzlies are 11-18 on the road. This isn't all that different from the Suns, but they're about to be a completely new team. The Grizzlies need to make sure they still finish top 4 at least, and the Kings could get as close as 1.5 games of the 2 seed if they close out their game tonight. Having Ja Morant be able to do cool Ja Morant shit is a good way to make sure you have home court for as long as possible.

For the Lakers, I mean this is kind of what everyone expected once we got the news that LeBron was shut down. AD had 28/19 with 5 blocks, but he shot just 9-19. Vanderbilt and Brown Jr went a combined 2-14, they turned it over 26 times and that was pretty much it. You lose a turnover battle 26-6 which turned into 41 Grizzlies points, what the hell do you think is going to happen? That's horrific stuff and I know it when I see it. My favorite basketball team can't stop doing that shit. Their margin for error gets even slimmer after tonight, and I guess the goal is just to float around .500 until LeBron is back? Top 6 is probably out, but the Play In technically is still on the table.