Memphis Grizzlies: Watch Ja Morant’s windmill alley-oop finish (video)

The Memphis Grizzlies had one of the worst first halves in recent memory, struggling against a struggling Orlando Magic team. To make matters worse, Orlando’s head coach, Steve Clifford, was out with COVID-19.

While the Grizz played a solid game defensively, they struggled badly on the offensive end, scoring just 39 points in 24 minutes. But in typical Grizzlies fashion, they couldn’t end the half without a huge surge of energy.

That energy was brought to the table by Ja Morant, who had one of the most exciting finishes of the season on Friday night.

Memphis Grizzlies PG Ja Morant finished an alley-oop with a highlight dunk

Ja Morant has always a highlight play or two in him, but even by his standard, this one was incredible. It was the type of finish that had fans jumping out of their seat. The dunk can be seen below in a tweet by the Memphis Grizzlies.

On a fast break opportunity, the ball was in Dillon Brooks’ hands. He dribbled down the court, and for some reason, the Magic defender decided that it would be best to leave Morant unguarded, leading to this highlight finish.

Brooks would dribble toward the hoop before the defender closed out when he would lob the pass up to Morant, who finished with a slam dunk. But not just any dunk.

Morant grabbed the ball, swung it around in a windmill fashion, and dunked it down, cementing this play as one of the best of the season for the Grizzlies, even in an awful first half. It gave the Grizzlies energy as they went into the break.

It seems like Morant has become a lock for a play like this in every game, which begs the question — does Ja Morant belong in the NBA Dunk Contest?

Almost nightly, Morant will have a dazzling play. Usually, it’s a dunk or flashy pass, but we’ve even seen him flex his athleticism shown through blocks in the past. Specifically, he blocked Jusuf Nurkic, a seven-footer in the team’s last outing.

Undoubtedly, Morant will continue to perform highlight plays for a Grizzlies team that needs his energy.