The Memphis Grizzlies were the first team to be eliminated in the 2025 NBA Playoffs after the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder swept them. However, Grizzlies superstar guard Ja Morant is confident that had he not gotten hurt in Game 3 of their best-of-seven first-round playoff series, the matchup would have unfolded differently.
The Thunder roared to an early 2-0 series lead, including a historic 51-point blowout win in Game 1. But once the series shifted to Memphis, the Grizzlies looked like a different team. They raced to an early 29-point lead in Game 3, but that’s when Ja got injured.
“I had ’em figured out,” Morant said. “Going out Game 3, not being able to play, was frustrating because that win right there could’ve made this totally different. I feel like we’d be on the way to OKC, series tied 2-2 right now.”
Largest comeback in NBA playoff history
With Memphis up 67-40 in the second quarter, Morant suffered a hip injury after he was undercut by Thunder guard Lu Dort while attempting a dunk. Ja fell hard on the floor and was in obvious pain when he was taken out of the game. He did not return.
At that point in the game, Ja already had 15 points on 6-11 shooting with 5 assists in just 15 minutes of action. But without him, the Grizzlies crumbled like a cookie in the second half of the game. The Thunder rallied to win the game 114-108, marking the largest playoff comeback in NBA history.
Morant was declared ineligible to play in Game 4 with a hip contusion. Scotty Pippen Jr. put on a dazzling show in his absence with 30 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists. Desmond Bane and Sante Aldama each added 23, but the trio’s efforts weren’t enough against the loaded Thunder team, which ended up winning Game 4, 117-115 to sweep the series.
Ja could have made the difference
And with their season now over, the Grizzlies’ players held their mandatory exit interviews on Sunday before they officially go on summer vacation. As expected, Morant was the biggest draw, and aside from asking him about the Thunder series, he was also made to comment about thoughts on his role in the new Grizzlies offense, which is said to be one of the reasons why Taylor Jenkins got fired.
“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Ja. “As long as we’re playing the right basketball, I don’t care who the offence is built around or is for. For me as the point guard, I just go out there and do my job. The job is not for me to score 30, it’s to make everybody around me better.”
There’s no doubt that Ja was trying to do that in the playoffs and the Grizzlies would have given the Thunder a tougher time if he did not get hurt. With Memphis up 27 before he got hurt in Game 3 and the fact the OKC won by only two points in Game 4, maybe Morant was not talking to the air when he said the series would have been 2-2 by now if he were around.