New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIt felt good,\u201d he said of stepping back on court. <\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially to be able to do this \u2014 first time playing a real overseas game … I needed it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ja Morant returned in Monday\u2019s London clash (AP Photo\/Kin Cheung)Source: AP<\/p>\n
Excitement was high for league\u2019s 10th regular-season game in London, and the first since 2019, although transatlantic tensions flared when a lone heckler yelled \u201cLeave Greenland Alone\u201d during Vanessa Williams\u2019s pre-game performance of the US national anthem in a dig at President Donald Trump\u2019s plan to seize control of the autonomous Danish territory.<\/p>\n
The Grizzlies led by as many as 33 points, seizing control with 40 points in the first quarter.<\/p>\n
Memphis has lately made a habit of letting double-digit leads get away, including squandering a 20-point first-half advantage in a loss to Orlando in Berlin on Friday.<\/p>\n
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said Morant\u2019s energy was a key to preventing the Magic a similar comeback on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis speed, his intensity, his energy level, when he gets on the court he\u2019s a tough guard,\u201d Mosley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a lightning bolt getting downhill.\u201d Morant made his presence felt early, scoring 20 points and handing out 10 assists in the first half.<\/p>\n
Asked after the game about reports that the Grizzlies had made it known they would entertain trade offers for him, Morant indicated that he had no interest in leaving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf anybody in here knows me, I\u2019m a very loyal guy,\u201d he said \u201cI\u2019ve got a logo on my back, so that should tell you exactly where I want to be.\u201d <\/p>\n
Aussie Landale scored 21 points off the bench for the Grizzlies, who had six players score in double figures. <\/p>\n
Landale shot 9-of-11 from the field and added eight rebounds, three assists, a steal, two blocks and a triple.<\/p>\n
Memphis connected on 52.7 per cent of their shots of the field, including 13 three-pointers.<\/p>\n
Jock Landale guarding Tristan Da Silva (Photo by Glyn KIRK \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
The Magic, meanwhile, struggled to get their offence firing, Anthony Black leading their scoring with 19 points.<\/p>\n
Star forward Paolo Banchero had just six points in the first half, eventually finishing with 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I had a couple of tough bounces for sure, missed the wide open dunk,\u201d Banchero said. \u201cI think the team (there) was a lid on the basket for us, especially early in the game in the first half.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nevertheless Mosley said the Magic\u2019s European tour, with its attendant publicity duties, had been a valuable experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe attention that they\u2019ve had, the things that they\u2019ve had to do within the time frame that they\u2019ve been here, all those things are big pieces as you move forward and what we need to learn to get used to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Memphis star Ja Morant made a sparkling return from injury Monday, scoring 24 points and handing out 13…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1736,74943,74942,7,35937,1716,59230,11859,188,2322,74945,133,7300,74949,74282,74946,420,12379,74952,126,2684,74951,10151,177,6,11,1734,1740,74287,179,47,74953,76,402,74944,74941,74947,10668,40238,28370,74948,74950,7301,1730,74954,74873,74288,58036],"class_list":["post-545809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-playoffs","tag-america","tag-attendant-publicity-duties","tag-aussie-jock-landale","tag-basketball","tag-berlin","tag-calf-injury","tag-career-best-season","tag-coaching-staff","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-donald-trump","tag-energy-level","tag-espn-inc","tag-europe","tag-european-showcase","tag-european-tour","tag-first-half-advantage","tag-florida","tag-germany","tag-heat-stun","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-jamahl-mosley","tag-lightning-bolt","tag-london","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-northern-europe","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-coach","tag-orlando-magic","tag-paolo-banchero","tag-players-score","tag-sparkling-return","tag-time-frame","tag-trade-offers","tag-trade-rumours","tag-trade-speculation","tag-trade-statement","tag-transatlantic-tensions","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-valuable-experience","tag-vanessa-williams","tag-western-europe","tag-wide-open-dunk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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