Anti-Heaven Show! Come and see what happened in the last four minutes! Morant single-handedly handled the whole team for 15 points!
When the team's second-place scorer was expelled less than 3 minutes into the opening, the inside core graduated early with 6 full fouls, and the best shooter scored only 5 points on 2-of-7 shooting, how to win the game?
Ja-Morant gave the answer with his own actions: In today's second leg of the Warriors Division semifinals, the 22-year-old young All-Star overshadowed the whole field, scoring 47 points alone, setting a new single-game scoring record in this year's NBA playoffs – including the last 4 minutes and 16 seconds when one person took all the team's 15 points - and single-handedly defeated the champion Hot Warriors, once again showing his amazing talent, endless confidence, and terrible development ceiling!
The 2021-22 NBA playoffs, unlike in previous years, the Lakers led by LeBron James have been eliminated before the start of the playoffs, and Kevin Durant's Nets have also been swept in the first round, belonging to several league facade superstars of that era, only Stephen Curry still leads his Warriors to continue to attack the championship.
But even Curry faced a formidable challenge in the divisional semifinals — the league's biggest dark horse of the season, the Memphis Grizzlies led by Morant, stood in the way of the Warriors after a 4-2 win over the same young Timberwolves in the first round. It is widely believed that this athletic and impactful youth army will bring great trouble to the Warriors who won the Nuggets in the first round with the "Death Five Small".
Facts have also proved that the Grizzlies are indeed the Warriors' "bitter hand", the first game of the series, Morant and Jalan Jackson Jr. teamed up to cut 67 points, the Warriors relied on a key three-pointer from Klay Thompson to pass the thrill with a one-point advantage. And today's game, they were passively beaten most of the time, forced out of 18 mistakes by the opponent's aggressive defense, the whole team made 38 long-range shots, only hit 7 goals, shooting less than 20%.
To make matters worse, the Warriors seemed to have no way to take the young core of the other side. Although they limited the Grizzlies' other players to just 35 percent shooting (21-of-60 shooting), Morant made 31 shots, hit 15 of them, and nearly cut a 50+triple-double.
In fact, the Warriors are prepared for Morant's lethality, and in this series, they started with Gary Payton Jr. in place of Kevin Rooney, just to limit Morant. However, in the first game of the series, Morant had 34 points, 9 rebounds and 10 assists on 14-of-31 shooting, and today, with Payton Jr. injured and leaving the game early, he was more like getting rid of the last shackles and playing one of the best performances of his career.
Today's game, Morant quickly entered the state as soon as he started, with 14 points and 5 assists on 4-of-7 shooting in the first quarter, 23 points after the first half, and by the end of the third quarter, the personal data had come to 29 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists. But for the real performance later on, it can only be regarded as a simple warm-up.
In the final 4 minutes and 33 seconds of the fourth quarter, Curry hit his second three-pointer in 20 seconds, and the Warriors led by 4 points at 95-91, which looked like the situation was good. Then, Morant began his gorgeous show...
He first accelerated from the front to break into the penalty area, changed hands in the air to dodge defenders, and hit the sliding rod;
Immediately after, he repeated the same trick, almost in exactly the same way, but with a little change, first right and then left snake-shaped breakthrough, and then two points;
2 minutes and 28 seconds before the final game, when it was observed that Thompson, who was defending him, contracted excessively because he was afraid of his breakthrough, he chose to make a sharp stop and retreat for three points, and hit steadily, this goal also successfully countered the score for the Grizzlies;
Curry's goal quickly gave the Warriors the lead, but Morant's firepower continued. At 1 minute and 43 seconds, he used the block to name Poole, continuous turns, fake movements directly shook the opponent to the ground, and then easily threw the shot, and then scored two points;
This time, the Warriors failed to respond in time, although Morant also shot a three-pointer, but then caused Green to foul in the scramble, and two free throws were made to win a three-point lead for the Grizzlies;
With less than 50 seconds left before the end of the game, Curry and Green quickly cooperated after the timeout, and the latter rubbed the board to hit, and if the Warriors defended into a round next, there was still a chance to come back to life. But at the crucial moment, Morant shot again and completed the fatal blow, 30.7 seconds before the final, he broke through the throw and hit Wiggins! Pull the gap back to three points to ensure the Grizzlies are invincible.
The Warriors' last hope, dissipated with Thompson's one-step violation, they could only foul Morant, who made two free throws, equaled his playoff single-game scoring record, and also covered the game, drawing a satisfactory end to this gorgeous personal performance.
With Morant's crazy performance, the Grizzlies won this crucial victory, pulling the total score to a 1-1 draw and putting both sides back on the same running line. And this is the second time that the young star has turned the tide in this year's playoffs, saving the team on the brink of death.
In the fifth series of games against the Timberwolves in the first round, Morant scored 18 points in the fourth quarter and scored a layup in the last second to win the god-level performance of Tianwangshan. However, in that game, he only scored 12 points in the first three quarters, and the overall performance was far less than today's.
Objectively speaking, Morant can cut 47 points on the Warriors' head today, and the opposing defensive strategy and specific alignment situation have a certain relationship. Playing the Timberwolves in the first round, he played abnormally in the face of Beverley's stalking, averaging only 21.5 points per game and shooting less than 40%. Today's game, although his performance is explosive, but the specific process is still worth scrutinizing, more often, he is still relying on physical talent in playing, in the handling of individual balls, it is still slightly underheated.
But don't forget, Morant is only 22 years old, since entering the league, he has been constantly learning, improving, as a top-notch show, in the case of the best rookie, can also make leaps and bounds, get the fastest improvement player award, which is unprecedented in the entire history of the NBA.
Morant has a historic ability to bounce and control his waist and abdomen, but his ability to learn is also a valuable hidden talent. At the age of 22, in his third season in the league, he has been able to rely only on the impact of the Warriors to give and take, in the future continue to improve the technology, increase the game experience and court wisdom, what heights will he reach?
Of course, one win is not enough to explain too much, and after winning today's game, the Grizzlies only drew 1-1 with their opponents at their home court. The Warriors, who have reached the Finals for five consecutive years and won the championship three times, are accustomed to big winds and waves, and the next series will definitely be adjusted to better limit Morant's play, and at that time, whether Morant can make good use of his pulling power on the offensive end, mobilize his teammates, and integrate into the offense is the real test for him.
Although the lone hero's drama is wonderful, it is by no means king, and the Warriors cannot make so many mistakes in every game, and the feel is still so cold.
But either way, it's an amazing personal performance and another challenge to tradition by the new forces, declaring to the world that the future of the alliance will soon be in the hands of a whole new generation, represented by Morant.