Ja Morant Says Grizzlies vs. Thunder Playoff Series Would Be Tied If Not for Injury

The Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of their Western Conference Playoffs matchup, but Ja Morant believes it might have gone down differently had he not exited Game 3—and then missed Game 4—with a left hip contusion.

"I had them figured out," he told reporters Sunday. "Going out Game 3, not being able to play was frustrating because that win right there could've made this totally different. I feel like we'd be on the way to OKC, series tied 2-2 right now."

Those comments felt similar to Jimmy Butler's remarks last season after he missed the Miami Heat's first-round series against Boston, a five-game triumph for the Celtics.

"If I was playing, Boston would be at home," he said at the time. "New York damn sure would be (expletive) at home," he said.

Those comments famously didn't sit well with team president Pat Riley, who made his feelings known publicly (and perhaps in the process added a seismic pulse to a growing fissure between Butler and the organization).

"For him to say that, I thought, 'Is that Jimmy trolling, or is that Jimmy serious?'" he told reporters in response. "If you're not on the court playing against Boston or on the court playing against the New York Knicks, you should keep your mouth shut."

It's unclear if anybody in the Memphis organization will feel that level of vitriol toward Morant's take on Sunday, especially given that Morant suffered the injury in the second quarter of Game 3 and the Thunder promptly erased a 26-point halftime deficit to secure the victory.

Saturday's Game 4 was also tight, as the Thunder won 117-115.

Granted, OKC won both games on its home court with ease, beating the Grizzlies by a whopping 51 points in Game 1 and 19 points in Game 2. So with or without Morant, Memphis actually winning the series always felt like a long shot.

But perhaps if the superstar guard had stayed healthy it would have been a far more interesting matchup. Sadly for Morant, missed time was the primary theme for him throughout the year, as he missed 32 games during the regular season with a variety of injury issues.

"It was lot. Injuries are frustrating. Losing games is frustrating," he told reporters on Sunday. "I try to find the positive—we showed signs of what we can be and that's what I took from this season. Trying to make sure the stuff we did right we continue to do consistently."