Thompson: It’s been built, and now Jordan Paul and Ja Morant are fully connected in the series

Jordan Paul He smiled as he stared at the iPhone 13 Pro Max in his hand. A wry smile, as if he knew this would become his next attack.

Watch the video of the play in the middle of the fourth quarter when Memphis was suggesting that he deliberately tried to hurt him grizzly star Ja Morante. Watch the slow replay of the play where he and Andrew Wiggins He cornered Morant, with Paul passing and hitting the ball, then reaching again and catching Morant’s right knee. Show him pulling Morant’s knee toward him with his right hand while pushing Morant with his left hand.

After seeing him, Paul said, “Yeah, it was a basketball game when we doubled it up, I hit the ball and I was going to get the ball. I mean, you obviously don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I’m not even that kind of player. Respect everyone.” “Hopefully he gets better, and we can see him in the next match. I don’t play like that, on the ground. That’s not my type of game.”

Morant may have straightened his knee when he got stuck in the trap. Morant may have injured his knee earlier in the third quarter in a Klay Thompson 3 مؤشر Index Lunge Contest. Whatever the case, Paul and Morant are now intrinsically linked in this second round of the Western Conference series, which was the Warriors Leading, 2-1, after Saturday’s 142-112 win at Chase Center. Morant began the association by attacking Poole relentlessly down the extension of Game 2 and He made Paul fall as if he was dancing a praise. Red Bull – as you know he will – returns to Morant in Game 3.

Everything turned another notch when Morant walked off the field. He looked sad as he tore the seat cushion next to him and slammed it in frustration. He looked in excruciating pain while the athletic trainer was urging on his right knee. It’s the same knee Kept him out for nine games down the extension. Then Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said he was “curious” about what Paul was doing. Morant then tweeted “code-breaking” above the video Paul saw, referring to Warriors coach Steve Kerr’s claim that the Grizzlies are guarding him. Dillon Brooks “Break the code” when hit Gary Payton II In the head from the back at breakfast.

Now there’s a whole controversy with Paul and Morant in the center.

“This is a comma talk,” Thomson said. “Personally, I’ve had a pretty severe knee injury, and I don’t think there’s any malicious intent from Jordan. I don’t think he’s strong enough to hit someone’s knee. But we don’t try to hurt people or try to hit people in the back of our heads at a quick breakfast. We play. The game the right way, and I’ll support him. He didn’t come out to – no.”

From what we know about Paul, he definitely didn’t want Morant out of the series. He wants a Morante bone measuring stick.

Paul sat for three days while the series’ focus shifted to his defense or lack of it. The highlights and memes got a good run out of Morant who brought down Poole, one of his many amazing plays where he scored 47 points in Game 2.

“It’s basketball,” Paul said. We go in. We play hard. We compete. These are the best players in the world, you know what I’m saying? So just get out there, play hard, stick to our game plan, ignore it, keep pushing, come back the next day, go to the drawing board. And trying to get better.”

His attempt at modesty aside, Paul—who is only two months older than Morant and was named 26th pick after the Grizzlies star in the 2019 NBA Draft—simply won’t make that end of the story. Paul made it happen here, from the poster who chased him back in 2019 to a key member of a tournament because he thinks he belongs in the greats. It doesn’t stop Morant, who scored 34 points on 13 of 21 with seven assists. But Paul was determined to prove that Morant had no chance of stopping him. Nobody on the Grizzlies fared well on Saturday.

Paul is enemy number 2 now in Memphis. maybe he died Draymond Green Now that he has been blamed for Morant’s injury. Some in the Grizzlies Country were already hoping that Poole would be suspended from Game 3 for walking the field when Payton fell. Now, there will definitely be Noel on toppling him in Game 4.

It makes perfect sense too, because Poole is a huge problem for the Grizzlies. It is the primary choice for Warriors to get Morant to work in defense.

The Warriors survived a hot start for Memphis and advanced into the second quarter. Morant, the unstoppable third-year goalkeeper of the Grizzlies, returned to the game 9 minutes and 36 seconds after the break. In the first game, Morant finished his rest with 5:38 remaining in the second quarter. He came back at the 7:40 mark in the second game. But the Warriors came out on eight straight points, sparked by Thompson’s three-point play. The Grizzlies, who were at 13 points, took a six-point lead after about nine minutes. Even with the Star Guards and Warriors Stephen Curry Still on the seat, Morant was back on the right ship.

But this part of the game belongs to Poole. When Curry sits down to start the second and fourth quarters, the offense belongs to the third-year Warriors guard for six minutes or so. Morrant welcomed Paul’s party by dragging him to the deep end.

Morant preparation D. Anthony Melton to throw the ball. Bull responds by hunting down Morant, calling for a screen to get the Grizzlies’ face to defend him. And Paul went straight towards him, using hesitation and a step back to reach the base retractable jump. The next time Morant called out again, this time he went to work from the top and drilled a cloud over Morant at the free throw line.

The Warriors outpaced the Grizzlies by 10 minutes in the minutes while Curry sat down in the second quarter. The game changed with Paul’s move to Morant and the constant pressure on the Memphis defense. Warriors Plus -26 in Minutes is Curry in the series.

Like every defense, the Grizzles focus on keeping Curry out. With Brooks kicked out in Game 2 and suspended in Game 3, the Grizzlies turned into Melton and Rookie Zayer Williams To basically confront Curry and prevent his open appearance. Supporting them is the great Grizzlies – either Garen Jackson Jr. Or Wayne Wellman or Brandon Clark – Wait with help if Carrie makes a move.

But Poole gives warriors another player who can attack, and another player who can play Pick-and-Roll or even go into isolation. With Thompson on the court with him, and the attention Curry attracts, Paul has the space to work. He can pull his combination of crossovers and frequency moves to get where he needs to go. It’s not cocky around the edge, but Poole’s lazy pack is cool in its own right.

“Jordan, just our ability to clear the floor and get him off the slopes,” Kerr said. “What he added to our team is very important. We’re able to put Steve on the bench and I would say for the series, we’re probably winning the minutes that don’t include Steve, which is a big deal for us. Because for a long time, that’s been a problem.”

But what impressed his teammates with Paul was how he competed on defense. Green and two veterans told Paul they needed more of him on the defensive side. They needed him to compete. If that means winning, so be it. If that means you end up in Morante, so be it.

“It’s going to keep happening,” said Curry, who knows something about being a defense target. “Whether it’s me, him, whatever. That’s the nature of qualifying. But you just have to take this challenge seriously. You should have some pride about it, knowing that they’re trying to put you in the proceedings for a reason. That doesn’t mean you’ll stop in every-time.

“It just means you’ve done your job. First point of attack, be physical, and have no malfunctions. Whether they score or not, you’re just trying to make them win it and they’re obviously not tough. I think he made the right adjustments and had to keep doing it because When basketball slows down in games, those games are important. And if you do your work on the ball, you have help behind you. Most of the time, you’ll be in good shape.”

The controversial play that will dominate talk of the series was the product of Paul’s competition on the defensive end. It’s not Paul’s best look. He’ll be the center of attention again on rest days between matches, especially if Morant misses at any point.

But we know Paul. We know how it was built and what it is about. He wants Morant on the field. He wants to go straight back to the star. Because that’s how it appears that he belongs in this stage.

(Photo by Jordan Paul: Jeff Chew/Associated Press)