About Us | Contact Us | Email Preferences | Help | Donate

Premium Memphis Grizzlies

Morant stars as Grizzlies beat Jazz in Conley’s return

By , Daily Memphian Updated: November 15, 2019 11:43 PM CT | Published: November 15, 2019 9:51 PM CT
<strong>Memphis guard Ja Morant looks back and smiles after a dunk against the Utah Jazz Nov. 15 at FedExForum.</strong> (Karen Pulfer Focht/AP)

Memphis guard Ja Morant looks back and smiles after a dunk against the Utah Jazz Nov. 15 at FedExForum. (Karen Pulfer Focht/AP)

It began as Mike Conley’s night at FedExForum and ended as Ja Morant’s, and perhaps that’s a sign that the basketball gods appreciate symbolism.

Morant had 25 points, eight assists and a 107-106 win in his national television debut, his bucket list once again essentially a highlight reel. If on his final attempt of the night Morant drove straight into the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, Jazz center Rudy Gobert, and had his attempted game-icer rejected, perhaps that’s the basketball gods just trying to keep him humble. (After the game, Jenkins described Morant's demeanor as "a humble confidence.")

Conley’s returning embrace happened during the first time out, four minutes into the game, as planned.

The Grizzlies played a career-spanning, made-in-Memphis video tribute, followed by the rare, roaring ovation for a visiting player. Conley, looking up from the Utah Jazz bench, visibly teared up. 

Before Conley’s video moment, this anticipated matchup — Grizzlies past and future meeting in the present — hadn’t amounted to much. Neither had scored. 

Then play resumed, and a minute after Conley’s magical, moving moment, Morant drilled a 3-pointer in the old man’s eye. Then, a minute or so later, another. Then, on the next trip down the floor, Conley’s rookie replacement in Beale Street Blue faked the shot and slithered into the lane to find center Jonas Valanciunas with a layup. 

The kid has no chill.

But Morant continued to meet the moment without remorse. When he returned for his second rotation of the game, Morant unleashed an around-the-back dribble into an exaggerated scoop off glass. 

When Conley finally scored his first bucket on a floater, luring Morant into a pick and then breaking free, Morant responded with a layup on the next possession. Then he called for an alley-oop and rose over 6-foot-11 teammate Jaren Jackson Jr. to flush it home. 

And on it went.

Herrington: Mike Conley vs. Ja Morant will be instant Grizzlies lore

Conley finished with 15 points on 5-19 shooting in his return game. When it was over, Morant and Conley embraced at center court. 

Conley's final thoughts on Morant: "He's special. He's got the poise of a seasoned vet and that's not normal."

Did it mean more to win it against Conley? Not to Morant, whose personal connection to the game was more about his father's birthday and his daughter in the stands, and who tends to play it cool anyway.

"Nah, I just play with the same chip (on my shoulder) every game," Morant said. "I was just having fun. My coaches and teammates allow me to go out there and play freely and do what I do."

But Jaren Jackson Jr., who was Conley's rookie a year ago, saw it differently.

"Yeah, of course it meant more against Mike," Jackson said, smiling.

Morant actually finished the game on the bench. On a final defensive stand, head coach Taylor Jenkins went with size. Reserve forward Solomon Hill poked the ball away from star Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell to seal it. 

Now the Grizzlies (5-7) have won three in a row, two on the road and one against one of the conference's best teams.

"I think it's a change in our mentality. I think our guys are starting to get more confidence in how we want to play," said Jenkins after the game. 

Clip of the Night

Despite the Morant heroics, it has to be this. The Conley tribute video:

With in-arena atmosphere and Conley’s reaction:

Generation Gap

Earlier in the day, after morning shootaround, Morant and Conley were asked separately about each other, their answers capturing the difference between a reflective, self-aware veteran and an honest 20-year-old rookie:

Conley: “Man, I love his game. I got to watch him a lot over the past few weeks. Anytime I can catch the Grizzlies, I watch. He’s talented. He plays at a great pace. He’s not afraid of the moment. He makes great plays when needed. But he’s a very unselfish player. He’s my kind of point guard. I like him a lot.” 

Morant: “I haven’t played with him or played against him, so I don’t know much about him. I just know that he was a great player here in Memphis and everybody loves him. His jersey will be in the rafters here.”

Pressed again to deliver a soundbite about Conley, Morant said, politely but with a hint of helplessness: “I don’t know much about him. I’m young. He played here when I was in school. I really don’t know much about his game other than watching highlights.” 

Elements of Style

Upon review, I’d say the scoring of this is debatable. It looks like Jackson controls the ball and sends it in one-handed as Morant is doing the same with two. Was this the NBA’s first double dunk? As always: Memphis, City of Innovation.

After the game, Jackson, though he hadn't watched the replay, declined to claim co-credit. Did he get it too?

"Nah," he said, laughing. 

"I swear I thought it was for me. I looked at Jae and I thought he looked at me ... he didn't look at me. I didn't even know (Morant) was running."

Jackson says something similar happened to him at Michigan State with high-flying teammate Miles Bridges. 

"All these really crazy athletic freak jumpers ... yeah, it's a funny feeling."

Box Score Bits

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while Rudy Gobert had 23 points, 17 rebounds and 5 blocks. 

Dillon Brooks had his fourth 20-point game of the season, shooting 7-15 from the floor and 3-6 from 3-point range. 

Kyle Anderson tied his season-high with 13 points, to go with seven rebounds, peppering the Jazz with jumpers (!) in the first half. 

Jaren Jackson Jr. struggled offensively (0-6 from long-range) and fouled out in 28 minutes, but not until the game’s final minute and after making some big plays on both ends in the fourth quarter.

Marko Guduric’s recent hot streak ended. He shot 0-6 from the floor, including 0-4 from 3-point range. 

The Grizzlies outscored the Jazz 21-9 in transition. 

The Tweets Were Watching

Taylor Jenkins is undefeated (against former colleagues)

As a product of the expanded San Antonio Spurs coaching tree, Taylor Jenkins came into Memphis with professional connections to several other NBA coaches and has already faced most of them 12 games into his head-coaching career. 

The Grizzlies are 5-7. Jenkins record against former colleagues: 4-0.

He beat Gregg Popovich (right, Jenkins would say the Grizzlies beat the Spurs, but play along), under whose ultimate direction Jenkins began his NBA career, on Nov. 11 in San Antonio. 

Jenkins beat former fellow Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson (now Brooklyn Nets head coach) on Oct. 27 in Memphis. 

While he was never on the same coaching staff as one-time Spurs assistant James Borrego, Jenkins and Borrego were in the San Antonio organization at the same time. Jenkins bested the now-Hornets coach in Charlotte on Nov. 13. 

But this had to be the most meaningful yet. Jenkins’ coaching career began as an assistant under Utah’s Quin Snyder when Snyder was head coach of the Austin Toros, San Antonio’s developmental team. Jenkins and Snyder were later both assistants under Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta. 

While Jenkins paid tribute to Snyder before the game, the Jazz coach went deeper on this former protege. 

“We spent a lot of hours together, whether it was at the coffee shop or in the airport just talking about basketball,” said Snyder. “He probably helped me more than he realizes. I think it was a time for me in my career where having someone that was as loyal and supportive was really important. That was his first year coaching, but he had an acumen for the game. We would bounce ideas off of each other and just really enjoy talking basketball. We became close.”

The big one still awaits for Jenkins: His first game against mentor Mike Budenholzer will come Dec. 13, when the Milwaukee Bucks come to town. 

Arena Action

The game giveaway was a shooting sleeve declaring “Grit Grind Forever,” a sartorial linkage of Conley and Morant. But I’d say this is the better franchise keepsake:

Tony Allen showed up for Conley’s return, sitting courtside next to the Grizzlies bench. Can’t fully confirm it, but I’m pretty sure this is the first game Allen has attended as a fan since he stopped playing. Allen was shown on the in-arena video board at the beginning of the second quarter and got a standing ovation of his own.

Up Next

The Grizzlies remain home to host the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, with a 5 p.m. tip. The Nuggets were 8-3 heading into the weekend and bring to town star center Nikola Jokic, who arguably boasts the highest ratio of skill level to athleticism in the association.

Deflections

Like Jeff Green, former Grizzly Ed Davis signed with the Jazz as a free agent this past summer and acknowledged that being able to play with Conley again was part of his decision. Davis missed this return after recently fracturing his fibula. Davis is projected to miss at least a month. 

This week, The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks published a piece on Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins, with whom Tjarks played as a high school baller in Dallas. Tjarks was a guest on our DM Grizzlies podcast this summer, where we talked about this some. 

It was a doubleheader day for the Grizzlies, as the G League Memphis Hustle improved to 4-0 with a 125-110 matinee win earlier in the day in Southaven. Grizzlies main roster assignee Josh Jackson had 16 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Two-way rookie John Konchar had 17 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three steals. 

Topics

Grizzlies Ja Morant Memphis Grizzlies Mike Conley

Are you enjoying your subscription?

Your subscription gives you unlimited access to all of The Daily Memphian’s news, written by nearly 40 local journalists and more than 20 regular freelancers. We work around the clock to cover the issues that impact your life and our community.

You can help us reach more Memphians.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we provide free news access at K-12 schools, public libraries and many community organizations. We also reach tens of thousands of people through our podcasts, and through our radio and television partnerships – all completely free to everyone who cares about Memphis.
When you subscribe, you get full access to our news. But when you donate, you help us reach all Memphians.

Pay it forward. Make a fully tax-deductible donation to The Daily Memphian today.

Thank you for reading the local news. Thank you for investing in our community.

Chris Herrington on demand

Never miss an article. Sign up to receive Chris Herrington's stories as they’re published.

Enter your e-mail address

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Chris Herrington

Chris Herrington

Chris Herrington has covered the Memphis Grizzlies, in one way or another, since the franchise’s second season in Memphis, while also writing about music, movies, food and civic life. As far as he knows, he’s the only member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association who is also a member of a film critics group and has also voted in national music critic polls for Rolling Stone and the Village Voice (RIP). He and his wife have two kids and, for reasons that sometimes elude him, three dogs.

Comments

Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here. 

Trending Now

© 2025 The Daily Memphian | Contact Us | FAQ | Additional Subscription Options | Work With Us | About Us | Privacy Policy | Donate