Ja Morant had to leave Thursday’s Game 3 114-108 loss against the Thunder due to a hip injury he suffered after a scary fall on the floor, with still 3:15 remaining in the first half. The superstar was later seen in crutches in the tunnel next to Memphis’ bench during the fourth quarter.
Now that Oklahoma City are 3-0, rival interim coach Tuomas Iisalo was asked if he thought his young guard would be available for their potential elimination game on Saturday evening. The tactician certainly hoped so, but Ja’s participation still remains uncertain.
“He’s going through further evaluations tomorrow,” shared Iisalo, as he was still unaware of the gravity of Morant’s injury, or even the nature of his pains. “Then we’ll know more.”
The 25-year-old crashed into Thunder guard Luguentz Dort, who unknowingly fouled him during a high-flying attempt to dunk the ball on a fast break. The OKC player later approached his opponent while he was laying in pain, apologizing while tapping him on his chest.
“It’s a tough one,” Luguentz admitted. “I was running back, making a hustle play for my team. I was running quick, stopped on a dime. I didn’t know he was behind me and I was slipping, so I still tried to make a play on the ball. … I hope he’s OK. I obviously didn’t mean to hit him like that.”
Incredibly enough, Memphis was leading the scoreboard by 27 points with Ja on court, but Oklahoma turned things around. “We have a team of guys that feel a responsibility to each other,” coach Mark Daigneault said about the biggest road deficit of its season. “They’re gonna go down swinging.”
Jalen Williams believes this team can overcome anything. “In the moment,” the All-Star said. “It sucks. It’s not something that you want to make a habit of. But we also have extreme confidence in how we can play to kind of turn the tide.”
