The Memphis Grizzlies suffered one of the worst losses in playoff history by margin of victory, and their star's post-game comments rang extremely hollow after the 131-80 loss. Ja Morant, who came into this series with confidence, told reporters that the team would "never play that bad again" and a win on Tuesday would mean that "this game [wouldn't] matter".
Ja Morant vows the Grizzlies will play a lot better in Game 2 on Tuesday. 😤 pic.twitter.com/bqEkjYpGEj
— theScore (@theScore) April 20, 2025
Memphis came into this series as a big underdog against the 60-win Thunder and played exactly like that as OKC completely trounced them. Morant did not play well in the loss, only scoring 17 points on a poor 35 percent shooting from the floor. The two-time All-Star had nowhere to go all game, with defensive studs Lu Dort and Alex Caruso locking him down.
As a whole, no one on the Grizzlies played well in their Game 1 loss with the exception of Marvin Bagley, who shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the floor and ended up with 17 points. For a big chunk of the season, Memphis were respectable, fighting to stay out of the Play-In tournament in a tough Western Conference. This came despite the fact that Morant missed a chunk of the season due to hamstring and right shoulder injuries.
After a poor stretch where they lost five of seven, the Grizzlies decided to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins, with the team's 11-20 record against .500 or better teams probably being a big reason why. Despite elevating Tuomas Iisalo to the open position, the Grizzlies still struggled in a deep Western Conference with them being relegated to the Play-In Tournament at regular season's end.
Grizzlies needs more than Morant's words to keep respectability
While the sentiment is nice, it's likely that it won't matter that much as the Thunder seem to just be a better team than Memphis. Oklahoma City star and likely MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn't even play well in this matchup. Even though this series is likely heading toward a round one loss for Memphis, it would be great if Morant and the rest of the Grizzlies could get one or two games in this series.
Although nobody in their right mind picked the Grizzlies to beat the top-seeded Thunder in the first round of the playoffs, most analysts at least expected Memphis to compete. Winning one or two games in this series would be something the franchise could build on going into next season.
Hopefully, this is the case and their star's words lead the way towards a more respectable series for the franchise. Regardless, it's clear that the squad has some work to do before Game 2 of this series.