© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Ja Morant's 'Body Catching' Dunk Slams The Door On The Suns As Jaren Jackson Jr. and Dillon Brooks Led The Memphis Grizzlies Over Phoenix
Dillon Brooks (27) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (24) led the team in scoring as the Memphis Grizzlies (8-16) defeated the Phoenix Suns (11-13) 115-108 last night on the road but it was Ja Morant's first poster dunk of the season that put an exclamation point on the night.
Up 109-105 with 45 seconds left in the game, Morant found himself in a one-on-one matchup with Phoenix center Aron Baynes. Morant took advantage of the mismatch, blew past Baynes and 'caught a body' as Baynes attempting to recover. Morant, who finished with 13 points and 6 assists, was known for dunking on and over players in college, and he finally was able to deliver his calling card against the Suns via Aron Baynes.
“That’s my game. I’m going to try to finish every time," Morant said about the highlight dunk at such a crucial moment of the game. "The first time was an and-1, the second one was a dunk. It felt good. I feel like everybody knows that’s my game. To go to the rack with force and try to finish the play aggressive and I was able to get one tonight. They (the bench) was just laughing. It took you two months to get one. They were just excited and it just shows the type of team we have.”
Dillon Brooks had an outstanding performance as well with 27 points and 3 rebounds. He was making tough shots all night and did a great job making life hard for Devin Booker and Kelly Oubre.
“We were guarding. We were taking it personally," said Brooks on his team's performance. "They beat us at our house and we wanted to beat them in their crib and we were just guarding our ass off, we made the necessary plays. We made the right plays, we went to the line and shot free throws and we didn’t back down, we guarded and rebounded.”
© Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Brooks was also impressed by his teammate Ja Morant's dunk as well
“Oh my gosh, I was screaming! That’s how electric he is," said Brooks. He’s a special player. If he’s having a tough game or whatever he finds a way to electrify the game to put us over the top.”
Jaren Jackson Jr. had another solid game in spite of fouling out last night as well. He added 24 points and 6 rebounds while shooting 3 of 7 from three-point range for 42.9 percent. Jackson is seeming to affect the defense lately in a way that is reminiscent of his rookie season and even though he was in foul trouble he still was able to make things hard for the Suns.
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Memphis Grizzlies Head Coach was pleased with his team's performance after wrapping up a four-game road trip going 2-2 and winning two-straight games. The Grizzlies have also won 3 of their last 6 games overall.
“Unbelievable effort by our guys tonight, two nights in a row," said Jenkins. "You could maybe chalk this up to being another complete game for us. I don’t think the guys came ready in the edge in the first, second and third quarters. The Suns went out and got a couple early runs on us, we were a little too casual. But when we locked in, our guys were really good defensively. A team that’s been killing it on the boards and second chance points, we just out rebounded them with all their crashers and athletic guys going in there. That was huge for us. Great job."
"The bench was huge for us tonight," Jenkins would add. "Just credit to our guys going out getting two big wins to finish this road trip. These games are always hard at the end of a road trip. Proud of our guys’ effort tonight.”
The Grizzlies will return home for a matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks (22-3) Friday at the FedEx Forum.
