National Basketball Association

Is Ja Morant the best player in Grizzles-Warriors series?

Published May. 5, 2022 11:35 a.m. ET

In Game 1, Steph Curry had a grand time.

But in Game 2, Ja Morant joined in on the fun.

Ja Morant enjoyed himself during the Memphis Grizzlies' 106-101 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night.

How could he not have?

The man was on cloud nine, entirely unflappable against the Warriors' defense, as he ran rampant in a 47-point, eight-rebound, eight-assist masterpiece. And according to Morant, he did the majority of his damage in the fourth quarter without the use of his left eye.

If his half-blind claims were indeed true, then Morant's timeless outing morphs into legendary status.

His message to Stephen Curry following the heroic showing was a decree of confidence in his ability to defeat the former champion Warriors.

Heading into Game 3, the question is now this: Is Morant the best player in the series? Or does that distinction still rest with the two-time MVP Curry?

According to Nick Wright, Morant isn't yet the legend Curry is, but as of today, he's the brightest star in their matchup.

"Stephen Curry has never had a better playoff game than the one Ja had [Tuesday] night," Wright said Wednesday on "First Things First."

"I think you can make the argument that in the postseason, Morant has already reached a single-game apex higher than we've seen from Steph. I also think Ja is more terrifying than Steph on a single-game basis. Steph gets the benefit of the doubt for what he's done in his career, and he's obviously one of the best players in the league. But right now, do I think the Grizzlies have the best player in the series? I do."

Ja Morant's 47 points propel Memphis to a Game 2 win

Is it crazy to say Ja Morant looks like the best player in the 2022 NBA playoffs at this point? Nick Wright doesn't think so.

From a scoring standpoint, their is a large gap in the sample size, but Morant appears on track to put up huge scoring numbers in his playoff career.

Curry has scored 40 or more six times in 119 playoff appearances, going 4-2 in those games. Morant has scored 40 or more twice in just 13 playoff games, going 1-1.

Curry also has playoff career averages of 26.5 points, 6.2 assists and 5.3 rebounds, while Morant logs in at 27.8 points, 9.4 assists and 7.2 rebounds.

Still, Chris Broussard told Wright he was taking things too far, too soon.

"Not only might Ja be the greatest player in the series, Ja Morant might be one of the greatest all-time playoff performers we've ever seen," Broussard said sarcastically.

"Of course, after 13 games, he isn't an all-time playoff performer."

Regardless of it only being Morant's second postseason, the former No. 2 pick was remarkable, lighting social media on fire with his most recent outing.

Even he couldn't believe what he did.

Neither could Skip Bayless.

"[Tuesday] night, Ja Morant knocked me out of my chair," Bayless said on "Undisputed."

"Because he closed with a huge clutch gene. He was just saying, ‘Get out of my way. I got this.’ He was basically saying, ‘It’s all me. I'm going to wait. I'm going to drain the clock down, and give me seven seconds and I'll go in that lane and find some passage to the basket.' He made shot after huge shot, to the point where I just said, ‘He got this.’

"He said, ‘I’m the best player on the floor. Steph's not.'"