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Ja Morant placed on a passing clinic within the Memphis Grizzlies’ 119-106 win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday evening. In 36 minutes of motion, Morant dropped a career-high 17 assists to go together with 19 factors and 4 rebounds. Morant’s earlier profession excessive in assists was 14.
The electrical Grizzlies guard picked aside Toronto’s protection all evening and set the tone for his staff together with his playmaking. He tallied three assists within the first quarter, 5 within the second, seven within the third, and two extra within the remaining body. Morant picked up all of those assists whereas turning the ball over a complete of simply 3 times, which makes the efficiency moreover spectacular.
Check out the highlights from Morant’s profession passing efficiency under:
Developing as a playmaker is a part of the evolution of Morant’s recreation. He’s already established himself as an elite scorer, and he is constantly studying tips on how to leverage that capacity with the intention to generate alternatives for others. He’s averaging a profession excessive in assists per recreation on the season, and his enchancment in that space was on full show on Thursday evening.
“It’s tremendous spectacular,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins mentioned about Morant’s passing efficiency after the sport. “Tons of credit score to Ja. It simply units a tone for us. His unselfishness, we discuss that on a regular basis.”
In order for Morant to pile up the assists, he wanted his teammates to complete performs off of his passes, they usually did simply that. All 5 of Memphis’ starters completed in double-figures, led by Dillon Brooks, who had 25 factors whereas capturing seven of 14 from the ground. Pascal Siakam led the best way for Toronto with 25 factors and 10 rebounds, however his manufacturing wasn’t sufficient to propel Toronto to a win.
The victory over the Raptors was much-needed for the Grizzlies, losers of 4 of their earlier 5 video games heading into Toronto, together with a robust Christmas Day loss to the shorthanded Golden State Warriors. As a results of that temporary skid, the Grizzlies dropped down to 3rd within the Western Conference standings after beforehand occupying the highest spot. They’re now only a single recreation behind the New Orleans Pelicans and Denver Nuggets for first within the West.
Morant’s profession excessive in assists got here only a evening after Pelicans ahead Zion Williamson dropped a career-high 43 factors in a win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. It’s protected to say that the highest of the 2019 NBA Draft resides as much as expectations.
