SAN FRANCISCO – One of the better parts of witnessing the Warriors’ 2022 championship run was the view at two away arenas: Memphis and Dallas. The Grizzlies and Mavericks turn back the clock and sit media members courtside for a completely different experience than usual.
As seen Sunday night at Chase Center, Mavs superstar Luka Doncic operates and dominates at his own speed. If the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, he’ll go 40 and still get to the destination first, picking up a 45-point triple-double along the way. Watching Ja Morant speed up and down the floor is a much different viewing experience.
He zooms. He races. His only gear is go, especially a few years ago. Morant is Sonic the Hedgehog, using all 94 feet in length and 50 feet in width to collect his gold rings before finding his real prize, clearing for takeoff on a poster dunk.
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The Warriors have seen plenty of Doncic the past few years since beating him in the 2022 Western Conference Finals, facing him seven times since. Doncic missed one regular-season game against the Warriors in each of the past two seasons, but he has played them in both of his chances this season.
The Ja Morant Show has been few and far between since the Warriors and Grizzlies’ rivalry ramped up in the second round of those playoffs. The spectacle finally returns for a Warriors vs. Grizzlies showdown Thursday night at FedExForum.
"He's healthy. That's pretty much it. When he's healthy, he's Ja,” Gary Payton II said Tuesday after Warriors practice. “That's all I can give you. When he's healthy, he's unpredictable. You just gotta hit first, I guess."
Despite the Grizzlies dropping two of their first three games against the Warriors in the 2022 playoffs, Morant, quite literally, did all he could. Still only 22 years old at the time, Morant had a 34-point, 10-assist double-double in Game 1, followed by 47 points in Game 2 and another 34 in Game 3. Through three games, Morant was averaging 38.3 points per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 43.3 percent on 3-pointers, 6.7 rebounds, 8.3 assists and 3.0 steals.
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And he didn’t play another game the rest of the series as the Warriors took care of business in six games.
A knee forced Morant to miss the final three games of the series. When the two teams met the first two times the next season, both being Warriors wins, Morant averaged 32.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 10 assists. But he was hurt for the Grizzlies’ next two games against the Warriors that season, as well all three of the two teams’ games against each other last season and their first time playing one another this season.
Thursday night in Memphis will be the first time Morant has suited up against the Warriors since the 2022-23 season on Jan. 25, 2023. Steve Kerr knows his defense better be well prepared for Morant and a Memphis team that has won 10 of its last 12 games to hold the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
"He's so explosive getting to the rim,” Kerr said Wednesday. “The first thing is you have to guard him in transition. You can't let him get to the rim and dunk on the whole team. You got to build a wall in front of him, but they play five out and they've got 3-point shooting everywhere. You have to build a wall and then you have to get back out to shooters from there.
“They put a lot of pressure on you."
Golden State’s defense applied zero pressure on Doncic and Dallas to start Sunday’s game, a 143-133 shootout of a Warriors loss. The Mavs made their first nine shots. By the end of the first quarter, Doncic already had 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. At halftime, he was up to 28 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.
Slow starts have hampered the Warriors all season. To be the defensive team they want to be, and to contain Morant from having all of Memphis on its feet, the Warriors’ defense can’t be … defensive. They have to have to be the aggressors, which is the message their fiercest players on that side are trying to send.
"We got to do it together for 48 minutes from the jump,” Payton said. “Bring force, hit first. Some games we do, and some games we don't. We got to continue to practice and continue to come out from the jump.
“Hit first. I think most of the time when we hit first we put ourselves in a good spot to control the game."
There also will be another wrinkle to Thursday night that can spark the flames of a rivalry that has died out a bit. Dennis Schroder will make his Warriors debut, and he will be guarding Morant a number of times, as will Payton and Andrew Wiggins.
Schroder’s final game with his former team, the Brooklyn Nets, was against Morant and the Grizzlies, and it ended with Schroder, Morant and Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins finding themselves in a verbal spat.
Get your popcorn ready. Every Warriors game against the Grizzlies is better when Morant is speeding past the scorer’s table, bringing the best out of Golden State’s greatest competitors.
"He brings that level and that fight,” Payton said. “You gotta bring it, or you're going to get beat up. We don't want to get beat up. He brings it, I bring it, it makes both of us better.
“It's going to be fun, you already know what it is."