Ja Morant renders Warriors defense helpless in Game 2 Memphis win
MEMPHIS (CBS SF/AP) -- Memphis star Ja Morant took control of Game 2 of the NBA Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night, whirling, spinning and driving around the Golden State Warriors defense to score a career-high 47 points, leading the Grizzlies to a 106-101 victory.
The victory evened the best-of-7 series at 1-1 with Game 3 scheduled for San Francisco on Saturday.
With the Warriors leading 97-93 in the fourth quarter, Morant scored the last 15 points for Memphis as the Grizzlies went on a 13-4 run over the last 4:16 to put the game away.
"That loss was on my mind a lot, obviously missing that layup late," Morant said of his miss at the end of Game 1. "But coming into today, I told myself we needed a win, and we were going to get a win. I just took it upon myself to go out there and do that for us."
Meanwhile, Golden State's heralded threesome of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole could not find a groove all night. They went a combined 24-of-60 from the field while as a team the Warriors shot just 18.4 percent from the 3-point line.
Curry ended the game with 27 points, Poole had 20 and Thompson had just 12 points on 5-19 shooting.
The Warriors, in the semifinals for the seventh time in 10 years, had their chances. Trailing 104-101, Curry passed to Draymond Green, who tossed it to Thompson, who traveled with 17 seconds left. Morant hit two free throws for the final margin.
The game was physical, but head coach Steve Kerr didn't mince words when it came to what he called "a dirty play" by Dillon Brooks on Warriors guard Gary Payton II with 9:08 left in the first quarter.
As Payton leaped on a driving layup, Brooks clubbed him across the head and knocked him off balance. Payton crashed to the ground, fracturing his left elbow. Brooks was ejected.
"There's a code in this league, a code that players follow where you never put a guy's season/career in jeopardy," Kerr said.
Green, ejected from Game 1 for his own Flagrant 2, went down a couple minutes after Brooks' ejection. He went to the locker room, flashing the middle digit on each hand at the fans. He returned for the second quarter after getting stitches for a cut at his right eye that was nearly swollen shut by halftime.
