Calls Mount on Lu Dort After Nasty Ja Morant Injury as Grizzlies Star Fails to Keep Bold Promise

Two double-digit losses stripped the Memphis Grizzlies of their swagger. So Game 3 was all about sending a message. Facing the best regular season team in the NBA, the Grizzlies flipped Game 1’s embarrassment onto the Thunder. Directing the charge was Ja Morant, who looked to make a statement. But on the play, the crowd was supposed to go wild and instead went mute. Morant once again wallowed on the ground in pain.

The Grizzlies ace’s fearless use of his athleticism has put him in great injury trouble over the past few years. Hence, he made a surprising revolution. Morant decided he wasn’t going to dunk anymore. That promise did break from time to time. And with an open lane in sight, the 25-year-old saw the chance to produce a groundbreaking moment in the series. Unfortunately, that backfired.

As Ja Morant burst off the floor, his intentions were clear. He wanted to posterize Lu Dort, who was the lone defender on the fast break. Morant rose up, and in an attempt to stop him, Dort tried to react. But the Thunder’s defensive pillar lost his footing and instead knocked over the Grizzlies’ talisman in mid-air.

It was almost a carbon copy of what happened to Jimmy Butler yesterday. Morant lost all control and landed directly on his hips from a great height. Immediately, the crowd and the Memphis bench knew something was wrong. After staying on the floor, he was carried back to the locker room for further assessment.

It was revealed that Ja Morant suffered a hip contusion in that play and would be out for the rest of the night. It looked to be a tragic accident at first. But fans don’t feel Morant’s injury was unavoidable.

Fans are not happy with Lu Dort

It is hard to punish somebody for a nasty fall as such. Ja Morant was not at fault for wanting to smash the ball into the rim in front of the home crowd in a pivotal playoff game. Additionally, Lu Dort also seemed to be going for the ball as he saw the approaching Morant. However, he happened to interrupt Morant mid-air, leading to an extreme collision for the young Grizzlies’ cornerstone.

Intentions aside, fans were a little surprised that Lu Dort didn’t get anything but a common foul on that play. “That was so on purpose,” one fan wrote in response to the decision. And although this might seem to be an unpopular opinion, Dort didn’t seem to intentionally try and hurt Ja Morant in that play.

After chasing Scottie Pippen Jr. on the break, Dort’s foot got stuck under him when trying to rotate his attention towards Morant. At that moment, he lost his grip on the hardwood. Only Dort’s hands moved, and that impacted the way Morant fell to the ground. But regardless of what happened, Grizzlies fans were perplexed.

“It’s always Lu Dort he ended PG season like this,” another fan accused the OKC star. He may not have purposely tried to injure Ja Morant. But the ruling for a common foul did undersell the play. It was a mistake, but the play itself was dangerous. Hence, maybe the officials could have done a better job with their decisions.

However, from the fans’ perspective, it was Dort who could have done better. “That was a dirty play can’t tell me different,” another fan said about the Canadian. If we take the matter deep, maybe Lu Dort could have let Morant have it after realizing he was flat-footed. It would have helped avoid the incident.

But that isn’t how Dort is wired. As a natural defensive anchor, he attacks every defensive possession with the aim of preventing scoring opportunities. At the moment, it would have been hard to retract his motion even after realizing. Which is why some fans spoke in his support. “What Dort supposed to do? Ja just comes flying out of nowhere,” they mentioned.

The play will remain polarizing. It’s a thing of perspectives at the end of the day. However, what it looks like is a freak incident where no man was wrong. In the playoffs, every play matters. It could be going for a powerful slam or an improbable stop. This time, their clash led to the worst outcome for Memphis.