Well, it's safe to say Memphis Grizzlies fans will be doing everything they can to forget the events of Thursday night as quickly as possible. What began as a promising evening for the home team quickly turned into a disaster on multiple fronts.
Memphis jumped out to a massive lead in the first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder that quickly ballooned into a 29-point advantage just before the half. Just when everyone thought the 68-win Thunder were going to easily sweep the Grizzlies, Memphis flipped the script and made some begin to wonder: Could they actually make this a series?
It was a reasonable possibility in that first half of play. Could the Grizzlies simply hold on to their massive advantage, they would be headed into Game 4 looking to even things 2-2.
Then disaster struck. With under 3:30 left in the second quarter, Scotty Pippen Jr. stole the ball and began streaking down the court in the other direction. With Ja Morant trailing him, Pippen threw a behind the back pass. But as Morant caught the ball and rose up to deliver a show-stopping dunk for an exclamation point, he tripped over Lu Dort and fell to the ground, hitting his hip hard.
Morant is set to miss Game 4 of the series with OKC
Morant shot his two free throw attempts to give himself a chance of returning to the contest, but he never re-entered the game. Now, he has officially been ruled out for Game 4 on Saturday.
This is of course crushing news for the Grizzlies in more ways than one. Though Memphis was dominating OKC for much of the first half in Game 3, it feels hard to say they will have much of a chance the next time out without their best player ready to go.
Beyond that, what do we make of Ja Morant's future as a Grizzly? With the way this team has fallen over the last several weeks of the regular season and now going down 0-3 in the playoffs, it feels like changes could be on the horizon.
It seems crazy, but we have seen wilder things happen in the NBA this calendar year. Would the Grizzlies' front office see Morant's repeated injuries from this season and last as a reason to move on from him?
Understandably, it's not a conversation anyone in Memphis is interested in having at this point in time. With that said, the possibility exists that this unfortunate end to the season could be the last time we see Morant in a Grizzlies uniform.