Herrington: Missing Morant? Coming up short? That was the Grizzlies’ series and season.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. (left) drives the lane against Oklahoma City Thunder defender Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right) during action on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Mark Weber/The Daily Memphian)
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.
In the end, they were a tip-in away from a tie.
The Memphis Grizzlies were down 0-3 to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in a best-of-seven playoff series and down 12 points with less than four minutes to play in Saturday afternoon’s Game 4.
They were already down a star lead guard against the most ferocious perimeter defense in basketball, with Ja Morant in a tracksuit on the second row of the bench, knocked out for the series after Thunder forward Lu Dort had knocked him to the ground the game before.
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