Ja Morant caps 34-point effort with winning buzzer-beater vs. Pelicans in sizzling return from 25-game ban

Jason Owens

After a 25-game suspension, Ja Morant is back. He's in sensational form.

The star Grizzlies guard rallied Memphis from a 19-point halftime deficit then hit a winning floater at the buzzer to beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 115-113 on Tuesday.

The bucket capped a 34-point, eight-assist, six-rebound effort from Morant in his first game of the season following an NBA-issued ban for multiple gun-related incidents. He shot 12 of 24 from the field and 10 of 12 from the line while missing all five of his 3-point attempts.

He got off to a slow start in a rough first half for the Grizzlies that saw the Pelicans ride a 23-0 second-quarter run to a 60-41 halftime advantage. But Morant took control in the second half after a seven-point first.

The Grizzlies cut the Pelicans' lead to 87-77 after the third quarter. Then they chipped away through the fourth before Morant took over the game's final moments.

Ja Morant scores final 6 Memphis points in frantic finish

With the game tied at 109-109, Morant hit a go-ahead floater with 1:20 remaining to give Memphis its first lead since the first quarter. After Jonas Valanciunas tied things up on the other end, Morant drove for a knifing layup between Herbert Jones and Zion Williamson to retake the lead at 113-111.

Morant then missed a stepback 3-pointer after Jones tied the game again with a driving layup. But Morant secured the rebound off a CJ McCollum miss on the other end to set up the dramatic ending. Head coach Taylor Jenkins called a timeout to draw up the final play.

Morant took the ball in the backcourt then beat Jones one-on-one from the top of the 3-point line to get to the basket for the winner. Jones is one of the NBA's best defenders. But he stood little chance without help against an elite scorer in Morant.

"I'm a dog. I'm a dog, I put work in," Morant told TNT postgame before being swarmed in celebration by teammates. "I've been putting work in. I ain't played a game in eight months, had a lot of time to learn, myself. Lot of hard days where I went through it.

"Basketball is my life, what I love. Therapeutic for me. I'm just excited to be back."

Can Grizzlies contend for the postseason with Morant back?

The game was Morant's first since April 28 when Memphis lost an opening-round playoff series in Game 5 to the Los Angeles Lakers. It was a disappointing end to a season that saw the Grizzlies earn the No. 2 seed only to be derailed in part when Morant was suspended a first time for eight games after flashing a gun on Instagram Live at a Denver-area strip club.

The NBA then suspended Morant 25 games for the start of this season after he flashed what looked like a gun from a vehicle in another Instagram Live video. Tuesday marked the end of that suspension.

Morant's absence was costly. He returned Tuesday to a 13th-place Grizzlies team that left New Orleans at 7-19. They've got a lot of work to do just to get into playoff contention. The win left them seven games behind the 10th-place Phoenix Suns in the West.

Morant looks ready to return to his All-NBA form despite the long layoff. Whether it's enough to lift the Grizzlies into postseason contention is yet to be seen.

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