The Memphis Grizzlies have been saddled with the dubious distinction of being the first team eliminated from the 2024-25 NBA playoffs. After earning their way in through the Play-In Tournament, they suffered a four-game sweep at the hands of the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Memphis lost the first two games by a total of 70 points and looked completely outmatched by the Thunder, but when the series shifted to Memphis things changed. In Game 3, the Grizzlies built a 29-point lead on OKC, but Ja Morant, who had tallied 15 points and five assists through the first two quarters, wasn’t able to play after halftime after suffering a hip contusion. Yhe Thunder wound up pulling off a historic comeback to go up 3-0.
Morant was also unable to go in Game 4, and though the Grizzlies fought admirably, OKC indeed finished off the sweep and the Grizzlies officially entered into what could be an interesting offseason for them.
It wasn’t a surprising result for anyone outside of Memphis; the Thunder are a much better team. But Morant, understandably, believes things would have gone differently had he not gotten hurt.
“I had them figured out,” Morant said on Sunday, via the Commercial Appeal’s Damichael Cole. Morant also told reporters he believes the series would be 2-2 right now and headed back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 had he been healthy.
Again, it’s understandable that Morant believes this. It’s probably a good bet that the Thunder, at the very least, wouldn’t have come back from 29 down in Game 3 if Morant was on the court. The Grizzlies only managed 31 points in that entire second half without him. So that would’ve made the series 2-1.
Then in Game 4, the Grizzlies only lost by two points. They had the ball with a chance to tie in the closing seconds and the Thunder had to play the intentional-foul game. If you are within one possession with under 10 seconds to play without your best player, it’s certainly reasonable to believe that said player could’ve swung at least a couple possessions in your favor. That’s all it would’ve taken, and like Morant said, this series would be tied 2-2 head to OKC for Game 5.
There’s almost no way that the Grizzlies would’ve won this series, so it’s sort of a moot point. But hey, you never know. On the flip side, you don’t know that Morant’s presence would’ve changed the outcome of Game 4. It’s a safe bet Memphis could’ve held on in Game 3, but when a player is out from the start of a game all the dynamics change. It just would’ve been a different game.
Either way, this is all hypothetical. Morant did get hurt. The Grizzlies did get swept. Everything else is just talk.
