Memphis Grizzlies: Have teams cracked the code on how to stop Ja Morant?

The twelve-game winning streak enjoyed by the Memphis Grizzlies was snapped when the team fell to the Dallas Mavericks Jan. 14 by a score of 112-85.

One area that has cause for concern during the exciting run surrounds superstar guard Ja Morant. There’s no question the heart and soul of this team is going to be an All-Star this year, but if recent games are any indication its that teams have found a way to slow down Morant.

Let’s take a look at what teams are doing to make Ja Morant’s life difficult in recent games.

Teams are exposing Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant’s greatest weakness

Ja Morant plays a very similar style of basketball to that of Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo: Get the ball in your hands a few steps away from the three-point line and drive full-speed ahead to the basket.

Morant scores the ball predominantly in the paint. He loves it there, scoring the third-most points in the paint per game in the NBA this season. He’s averaging 14.8 PITP, according to NBA Advanced Stats.

Only Antetokounmpo and Denver’s Nikola Jokic score more points in the paint per game than morant (15.5 and 15.3 ppg, respectively).

And, just like Antetokounmpo, Morant does not want anything to do with shooting the ball from beyond the arc. He shies away from it, attempting an average of around 4 per game and making only one per game. In the month of January, Morant is making just 16% of his three-point shot attempts.

NBA teams are recognizing this. It started to become noticeable against Minnesota on Jan. 13. Each time Morant tried to drive with the ball, he was met with two Timberwolves at the elbow. They smothered him and made him have to fight against the grain to get inside the paint.

He had a hard time adjusting, shooting just 5-16 from the field and recording 4 turnovers. He tried to settle for shooting threes, but nothing was falling (0-7).

Against Dallas, Ja was met with a team that played zone almost exclusively when he was in the game.  The Grizzlies couldn’t reliably penetrate the zone and Morant’s impact on the game was dramatically reduced. He mustered just 19 points and had 8 turnovers— his second most of the season (he had 9 Oct. 27 at Portland).

Until Morant gets more shooters around him, teams are going to start playing a lot of zone and force the Grizzlies to beat them with outside shooting or with players other than Morant.

That’s a problem, because Memphis is one of the 10 worst-shooting teams from beyond the arc in the NBA, netting just 34% of attempts.