The biggest second-half collapse in NBA playoff history began with an innocent roar of anticipation.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. alertly stepped into a passing lane late in the second quarter Thursday night, came up with a steal and zipped upcourt as the FedEx Forum crowd, expecting another highlight in a first half full of them, preemptively stood and cheered. With Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort giving chase, Pippen threw a behind-the-back pass to Ja Morant, who elevated off both feet while eying a dunk that would electrify a building that hasn’t had much to get excited about in recent months.
But Dort lost his footing as he tried to steal Pippen’s pass, and he leaned forward awkwardly into Morant’s flight path. Before Morant reached the rim, he was undercut by Dort and crashed face-first to the court, landing hard on his midsection. Morant, a two-time all-star who has dealt with nagging injuries and disciplinary issues for the past three seasons, writhed in pain, left the game and was later diagnosed with a hip injury. The 25-year-old guard eventually returned to the Grizzlies’ bench area on crutches.
The Grizzlies, who were up 67-40 at the time of Morant’s injury and led by as many as 29 points in the first half, never recovered from the scary scene, blowing a 77-51 halftime lead to lose, 114-108, to the Thunder in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. Oklahoma City’s 26-point second-half comeback surpassed a 25-point second-half rally by the Cleveland Cavaliers over the Indiana Pacers in 2017 as the largest in playoff history.
“[The Grizzlies] built a 29-point lead in a half, so we knew all we had to do was build our own 29-point lead,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “If they could build it, we can erase it. That’s what we did. We just had to plug away at it.”
With the win, the No. 1 seed Thunder became the first team to take a 3-0 series lead in this year’s playoffs. The No. 8 seed Grizzlies, who fired coach Taylor Jenkins in March during a late-season swoon, will look to avoid a sweep in Game 4 on Saturday.
Morant’s momentum-altering injury was eerily similar to a hard fall taken by Golden State Warriors forward Jimmy Butler against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Dort avoided a flagrant foul on the play, just as Rockets guard Amen Thompson was assessed only a common foul for undercutting Butler as he jumped to secure a rebound. Dort told reporters he “slipped” while “trying to make a play for my team,” and that he had no intention of hurting Morant.
Morant’s health and availability have been a consistent issue for the Grizzlies. Morant received two lengthy suspensions for flashing handguns during live stream videos on social media in 2023, and he suffered a shoulder injury in December 2023 that ended his 2023-24 season after nine games. Morant appeared in only 50 games this season because of a variety of health concerns, including a right hip injury that cost him eight games in November.
“[Morant] is going through further evaluations [Friday], and then we’ll know more,” Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo said. “I would say [Morant’s injury] quite drastically [affected the team’s energy]. Not only the energy, the execution.”
The Grizzlies, much like the Warriors a day earlier, struggled to function offensively without their injured star. Oklahoma City outscored Memphis 63-31 in the second half, and the Grizzlies managed only 13 points in the fourth quarter.
Remarkably, Memphis committed 13 turnovers and shot just 9 for 36 after halftime. The Grizzlies scored just five points in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter, and they were held scoreless after Pippen hit a three-pointer with 4:51 remaining.
“[Morant] is the head of the snake,” Pippen said. “When you lose someone like that, it definitely alters and shifts the whole team. I don’t think there’s ever a lead that’s enough. [The Thunder] obviously turned up the physicality and started pressuring us a lot more. We lost a ballhandler, and that allowed them to pressure us and wear us out.”
Oklahoma City’s comeback was fueled by hot shooting from Chet Holmgren and tenacious defense from Alex Caruso. Holmgren scored 23 of his 24 points in the second half, drilling four three-pointers in the third quarter. Caruso had four steals after halftime, and he sealed the victory with a transition dunk with 19 seconds left.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 31 points and eight assists. Jalen Williams added 26 points, six rebounds and five assists to help the Thunder improve to 7-0 against the Grizzlies in the regular season and playoffs this year. All six previous victories came by double digits.
Memphis is now one loss away from the end of a once-promising season. The Grizzlies were in second place in the Western Conference as late as Feb. 27, and they were still on track for home-court advantage when they held the No. 4 seed on March 25. Jenkins was fired and replaced by Iisalo on March 28 with just nine games remaining in the regular season, but the Grizzlies’ late-season slide continued until the final day of the regular season, when they dropped into the play-in tournament as the No. 8 seed.
The Grizzlies finished 12-16 after the all-star break, and their last win against a Western Conference playoff team came Jan. 30. Memphis’s defense, which ranked seventh before the all-star break, slipped to 17th after the break.
Despite a promising young core built around Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane, the Grizzlies are at grave risk of failing to advance in the playoffs for the third straight year.
Among the months of negative momentum recently, Thursday’s historic collapse and Morant’s uncertain health status, the Grizzlies will have their hands full as they attempt to stave off a sweep.
“It’s very hard to describe [losing a big lead] to anyone who has never been in that situation,” Iisalo said. “Everyone who has been in that situation knows how it feels. That’s all I can say. Our togetherness is seriously tested right here.”
