This Warriors-Grizzlies series shows no sign of calming down. Even in the least physical of the three games thus far, there is some postgame chatter over a Ja Morant knee injury with accusations being levied against Jordan Poole.
Morant, who had 34 points in the Memphis loss, left late in the game with a hitch in his stride, favoring his right leg. After the game, Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said he was being evaluated for a knee injury and openly wondered whether Poole intentionally harmed Morant or if he would face punishment from the league.
Promptly after the game, Morant took to Twitter in a now-deleted post showing a clip of Jordan Poole grabbing his knee, as shown below.
He quoted Steve Kerr after Game 2, when he said that Dillon Brooks “broke the code” for winding up and fouling Gary Payton II in the head, which caused him to fracture his elbow, which also suffered ligament damage.
Here’s another angle:
There is some question as to whether that’s even the play where Morant was injured, or if it perhaps aggravated an existing injury. He landed awkwardly on Klay Thompson on a closeout attempt earlier.
Poole was asked about the incident and shown a video of it after the game, with the context of the Morant tweet. He denied that he’s a dirty player or that it was an intentional act.
“It was a basketball play,” Poole said. “I hit the ball, I was going for the ball… I’m not even that type of player.”
Poole said he hopes Morant recovers swiftly from the injury and as for the tweet, said there was Game 4 to sort things out.
Klay Thompson referenced his own knee injuries and said he didn’t believe that there was any “malicious intent” in the Poole clip in question. He joked that he doesn’t even think Poole is strong enough to cause a knee injury to someone else.