A dominant Warriors victory on Saturday night was overshadowed by an incident involving Ja Morant and Jordan Poole.
At one point during the game, Poole appears to swipe at Morant’s knee, which may have contributed to the leg injury he suffered shortly thereafter.
On Twitter, Morant posted (then deleted) a tweet calling the play dirty and accusing Poole of “breaking the code.” Of course, Poole himself denied any malicious intent.
“It was a basketball play,” Poole said. “We doubled him and I hit the ball, I was going for the ball. Obviously, you don’t wanna say anybody get hurt. I’m not even that type of player, I respect everybody. Hopefully, he gets better, and we can see him out there next game. But I don’t even play like that, for real. That’s not my type of game.”
Ja Morant reacted to Jordan Poole grabbing his knee.
(via @JaMorant) pic.twitter.com/9XhvkPfYxG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 8, 2022
Despite the denial, Poole continued to get called out by many fans and analysts who questioned and doubted his intentions.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins even suggested a possible suspension could be handed down from the league.
(via Marc Spears)
“[Morant] was going after a dribble and Jordan Poole grabbed his knee and yanked it which kind of triggered whatever happened,” Jenkins said during his postgame presser. “I’m going to be very curious to see what happens after that,” Jenkins concluded, alluding to a possible punishment from the league.
Amid all the outrage, 2x MVP Steph Curry stepped up to defend his teammate.
“There’s nothing malicious about what Jordan did, there’s no comparison to what Dillon did or Draymond, like nothing in that vein. So it’s not a joke that Ja’s hurt but all the rest of it is just total BS in terms of the conversation rn.”
Stephen Curry: “It’s not a joking matter that Ja is hurt. But the rest of this is BS.”
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) May 8, 2022
Obviously, Curry is biased in favor of his team, but it will be interesting to see what the league decides to do. If Poole does get suspended for a game, it could have huge implications on Game 4, and the series as a whole.
Regarding Morant and his health, much still needs to be determined. But if he’s able to get right over these next two days, it could be all the Grizzlies need to tie things up and head back home with a victory.
Let’s just hope he’s able to stay injury-free from here on out.
