LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Ja Morant erupted for 47 points as the Memphis Grizzlies outmuscled the Golden State Warriors to level their Western Conference NBA playoff series with a bruising 106-101 victory on Tuesday.
Morant’s career-high playoff points total dragged Memphis over the line to square the best-of-seven semi-final series at 1-1 after a nail-biting duel at the FedEx Forum in Tennessee.
But a physical encounter was shrouded in controversy, with the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks ejected after only three minutes for flattening the Warriors’ Gary Payton II as he drove for a basket.
Payton played no further part in the contest and Warriors coach Steve Kerr later confirmed he had suffered a fractured elbow.
The Warriors’ Draymond Green, ejected in game one on Sunday, was also on the receiving end of the Grizzlies’ robust tactics, needing prolonged treatment in the locker room in the first quarter after being stiff-armed by Xavier Tillman.
Kerr later described the Grizzlies first-quarter approach as “dirty not physical” and accused Brooks of “breaking the code” amongst NBA professionals.
“There’s a code in this league that players follow where you never put a guy’s season or career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in mid-air and clubbing him across the head and ultimately fracturing Gary’s elbow,” Kerr said. “Dillon Brooks broke the code. That’s how I see it.”
Victory was sweet for Morant, who admitted he had been tormented by what would have been a game-winning missed layup in Sunday’s one-point loss in game one.
“That loss was on my mind a lot, missing that layup late, so coming in today I told myself we needed a win and we were going to get a win,” Morant said afterwards.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors scoring with 27 points while Jordan Poole finished with 20.
