Ja Morant injury & Jordan Poole accusation, explained: How Warriors, Grizzlies' reaction to deleted tweet raised the ante in 2022 NBA playoffs

Edward Sutelan

•
Ja Morant injury & Jordan Poole accusation, explained: How Warriors, Grizzlies' reaction to deleted tweet raised the ante in 2022 NBA playoffs image

Ja Morant was not happy with Jordan Poole after Game 3 of the Grizzlies-Warriors NBA playoff series Saturday night.

Morant suffered a leg injury late in the fourth quarter that he initially tried to play through, but he ultimately was forced to leave the game. Replays showed Warriors guard Jordan Poole appearing to grab Morant's knee as the Grizzlies guard was going for the ball.

After the game, Morant wrote in a since-deleted tweet, "broke the code," a callback to what Warriors coach Steve Kerr said about Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks' flagrant foul on Gary Payton II in Game 2.

MORE: Ja Morant injury update

Morant tried to collect a loose ball as he was being guarded by Poole and Andrew Wiggins. As he went for the ball, it appeared that Poole pulled on Morant's right knee. Morant exited the game and later went to the locker room.

The Warriors won 142-112 to take a 2-1 lead in the second-round series. Before the injury, Morant had 34 points, seven assists and three rebounds and shot 13 for 21 from the floor. The team has not announced if he will be able to return for Game 4 on Monday.

After watching the replay on a reporter's phone postgame, Poole said he made a "basketball play" .

"I was going for the ball. Obviously, I don't want to see anybody get hurt," Poole said. "I'm not even that type of player. I respect everybody. Hopefully he gets better. I don't even play like that."

MORE: Warriors' Draymond Green flips off Grizzlies crowd in contentious Game 2

Tensions were already running high in this Western Conference matchup. Brooks was issued a Flagrant 2 foul in Game 2 after he hit Payton on a fast-break attempt. Officials upgraded the foul from Flagrant 1 to Flagrant 2, which involves "windup, impact and follow through to the head while the player was prone to injury."

Brooks was suspended for Game 3 for the incident.

MORE: How ACL, Achilles injuries changed Klay Thompson

Kerr said that he didn't know if Brooks' foul was intentional, but he called the play "dirty."

"Playoff basketball is supposed to be physical, everybody's going to compete, everybody's got to fight for everything, but there's a code in this league. There's a code that players follow where you never put a guy's season/career in jeopardy by taking somebody out in mid-air or clubbing him across the head, ultimately fracturing Gary's elbow," Kerr said.

"This is a guy [Payton] that's been toiling the last six years trying to make it in this league, finally found a home, just playing his butt off this year. In the playoffs, this should be the time of his life and [Brooks] comes in and whacks him across the head in mid-air.

"He broke the code. Dillon Brooks broke the code. That's how I see it."

MORE: What does 'Gold Blooded' mean?

People from both sides weighed in after Game 3 on the Poole-Morant incident.

Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said Morant was injured when Poole "grabbed his knee and yanked it." Jenkins is "curious to see what happens with that."

Warriors forward Draymond Green said he's not "going to try to go tit for tat," according to ESPN's Marc Spears.

Warriors guard Klay Thompson said that Poole had no malicious intent. Then he drew a comparison to the Brooks play.

On Sunday, NBA on TNT reporter Jared Greenberg said the NBA will not take action against Poole for the play as it has "been determined that it was a normal basketball play."

Edward Sutelan

Edward Sutelan Photo

Edward Sutelan joined The Sporting News in 2021 after covering high school sports for PennLive. Edward graduated from The Ohio State University in 2019, where he gained experience covering the baseball, football and basketball teams. Edward also spent time working for The Columbus Dispatch and Cape Cod Times.