Grizzlies Morant suffers devastating injury.
Two of the best teams in the Western Conference will square off in a nationally televised matchup on Thursday night when the Memphis Grizzlies face the Houston Rockets. The Grizzlies are hoping to recover from a lackluster road effort against the New York Knicks earlier this week.
Due to shoulder pain, Ja Morant is classified as questionable for the Grizzlies in this game’s injury report. Morant had already missed more games this season with a number of other illnesses in addition to a shoulder injury.
With a left calf contusion that was reportedly incurred during Houston’s most recent game, a road victory against the Atlanta Hawks, star center Alperen Sengun of the Rockets is also classified as questionable.
Although Morant’s output has fluctuated this season, it hasn’t had a significant impact on the Grizzlies, who have one of the NBA’s strongest rosters and are now 31-16 and in third place in the Western Conference.
After defeating the defending champion Boston Celtics on the road lately, the Rockets have emerged as one of the NBA’s biggest surprises of the season. They are presently ranked second in the Western Conference, above the Grizzlies. In that game, Dillon Brooks made eleven three-pointers. He will undoubtedly be looking to inflict more damage on his old team, the Grizzlies, against whom he made a game-winning jumper the previous season.
The NBA may finally be looking to embrace some of the younger, better teams in its arsenal rather than continuing to try to extract every last bit of performance from its aging stars, as evidenced by the fact that this game will air on TNT.
In any event, Memphis will host the Grizzlies and Rockets at 9:30 PM ET to start the game.
Following back-to-back seasons with 56 and 51 wins, the Memphis Grizzlies aimed to make a bold move during the 2023 offseason.
In a three-team trade involving the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards, the Grizzlies traded Tyus Jones and a first-round pick, securing 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart in return.
Smart only played 20 games in his first season as a Grizzly because Memphis was plagued by a terrible injury curse, but his second season hasn’t been much better. This season, Smart has only played in 18 of 47 games, including the last 18 straight.
Taylor Jenkins, the head coach of the Grizzlies, provided a less than encouraging update on Wednesday about Smart’s absence from action since December 21. Smart is still “week-to-week,” according to Jenkins, and isn’t completely practicing with the team.
The Grizzlies released an update on December 28 stating that Smart had been “diagnosed with a partial tear of the proximal extensor hood of his right index finger” and would undergo another evaluation in 21 days. After more than a month, Smart is still going week to week with no set comeback date.
When healthy, Smart has established himself as one of the best defensive guards in the NBA. Although the Grizzlies are still in third position in the Western Conference, it is regrettable that they have not yet been able to fully utilize this roster.
