Ja Morant reserved his jersey for his father, because this is the first time his old man had ever asked for it after a game. The superstar Grizzlies guard was about to give his jersey to his inspiration, Derrick Rose, but the Knicks guard would have to settle for a signed backup.
“It was kinda awkward,” Morant explained.
Actually, it was kinda perfect. This was Madison Square Garden, and Memphis had beaten the Knicks one more time, and so Morant and everyone who cares about him understood that this was no ordinary Sunday night road victory in the NBA.
Morant walked into a postgame press conference in a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, talking to his mother, Jamie, on his phone before he brought up his father, Tee. No, this 127-123 victory in late November won’t be soon forgotten on the Grizzlies’ journey to who knows where.
“Just the bright lights, man,” Morant said of MSG after he made all the big plays in the fourth quarter and finished with 27 points, 14 assists, and 10 rebounds. “Having a triple-double in the Garden is crazy. Growing up, actually watching teams come here and play, watching the Knicks play, everybody loves the Garden.
“We call it the bright lights. Everybody’s watching, so for me to be able to go out and play how I played tonight was big-time for me.”
Of course, Morant had to be asked a question about the near-miss in 2019, and the fact the Knicks were one draft pick away from hiring him. Memphis took the Murray State prospect at No. 2, and the Knicks took RJ Barrett at No. 3, and not much more needs to be said about that.
Did the bygone possibility of making the Garden his full-time office enter his mind as he was shredding the Knicks with surgical precision?
“Nah, it wasn’t a thought,” Morant responded. “Obviously, I felt like everybody’s dream as a basketball player is to play in the Garden. So I’ll take my one time a year.”
One time instead of 41 times, plus the playoffs. And yes, there would be playoffs in New York with Morant handling the ball, year after year after year.
The Knicks threw everyone but Walt Frazier at Morant, and it didn’t matter. Quentin Grimes did the best job on him, but Grimes wasn’t out there in the fourth quarter when Morant decided the game. And he wasn’t in the vicinity in the third quarter when the Memphis playmaker exploded down the baseline, split Rose and Isaiah Hartenstein, drew the foul as he remained suspended in the air for an absurdly long period of time, and then completed the duck-under layup.
Cam Reddish called Morant “a terror” on offense. Said Tom Thibodeau: “He’s a fast break unto himself. He’s an offense unto himself.”
Thibs tried and failed to play team defense on the point guard and was impressed by the fact that he “didn’t fight it. He just made the right play.”
And when it was over, Morant explained that he wanted to honor Rose with the signed jersey because the former league MVP “really made it to where people believe in guys like me coming in, athletic guards. I felt like he was pretty much the one that kinda made it famous, just with how acrobatic he is with his finishes, his touch around the rim, how explosive he was.”
Before the game, Thibodeau had made the same comparison between Sunday night’s opponent and his former quarterback in Chicago. After the game, Morant was as gracious with the microphone as he was spectacular with the ball. He thanked his teammates for making him look good and for allowing him to match his career high in assists.
The sights and sounds of all this had to hurt the Garden crowd to its core, though Knicks fans have been down this one-pick-away road before. The Knicks were picking eighth overall in 2009, and were salivating over a rail-thin wonder from Davidson College, Steph Curry.
Everyone knows how it played out from there. Golden State ignored Curry’s preference to play in Mike D’Antoni’s high-speed offense in the big city and took the best available player at No. 7. The Knicks selected Jordan Hill, who would appear in 24 games for them and average 7.9 points across his journeyman career, instead of DeMar DeRozan, a five-time All-Star who is now averaging more than 26 points per game for the Bulls.
Curry became a four-time champion and the greatest NBA shooter of all time by Secretariat lengths. On cue, Curry broke Ray Allen’s career 3-pointers record against the Knicks, in the same building that welcomed Morant on Sunday night.
Morant entered the Garden averaging 28.6 points, 7.3 assists, and 6.1 rebounds this year compared to Barrett’s 18.4, 3.0, and 5.4. Barrett played a good game, but it’s still hard to say what level of stardom he will ultimately reach, if any.
Meanwhile, Morant has the clear look of an all-time great. He is another living reminder for Knicks fans that there is nothing worse than being one pick away in the NBA.
