Ja Morant Struggling to Catch Passes After Hand Injury vs. Lakers, Grizzlies HC Says

With Game 3 between the Lakers and Grizzlies looming Saturday night, the status of Memphis star Ja Morant remains up in the air.

Morant, 23, is dealing with a bruised right hand which caused him to miss Game 2 of the first-round series and is game-time decision once again. He was a full participant in the team's practice Friday, which was basically a walk through without contact.

Coach Taylor Jenkins says that the All-Star guard is still dealing with some pain nearly a week after he first suffered the injury on April 16 in Game 1.

"He's still navigating a little bit of pain," Jenkins said. "But as I said, there's improved symptoms for sure. I think his dribbling is improving, the shooting, the confidence there. It's just catching the ball that he's kind of having to navigate a little bit, but it's so much better than it was two days ago."

Despite Morant missing Wednesday's game, the Grizzlies managed to even up the series without their superstar thanks to a complete performance by the team's starting five, spearheaded by Xavier Tillman's 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Tyus Jones, who started at point guard in Morant's place, also played admirably pouring in 10 points with eight assists and six rebounds in the win.

"We got each other's back," Jones said. "We've got a close-knit group here. We've said it time and time again over the last couple of seasons, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of what's going on, what anyone says, what the narrative is about us, what we worry about is who's inside our locker room."

Memphis will be counting on Morant's return Saturday as the series heads to the West Coast and Crypto.com Arena. Even though they are the No. 2 seed in the West, the Grizzlies aren't great when they're away from FedEx Forum.

They went just 16-25 on the road this season.

The Lakers will certainly be juiced up for the matchup, especially with the beef that's been brewing between LeBron James and Dillon Brooks.

Brooks talked trash to the NBA's all-time leading scorer throughout Game 2 and later called James old in a postgame interview. An amped-up version of James isn't something Memphis is going to want to face shorthanded.

As for Morant, he is set to participate in a morning workout on game day before the team's staff decides whether or not he's ready to suit up. It's the same process he went through prior to Game 2.