Grizzlies’ Ja Morant, on criticism: ‘I feel like I’ve been the villain for the last two years now’

MIAMI AP It was the sort of moment that Ja Morant craves He hit a game-winning jumper at the buzzer to lift the Memphis Grizzlies past the Miami Heat then skipped down the court listening to the silence he created He was the villain And he doesn t mind I feel like I ve been the villain for the last two years now Morant commented Not even just to this crowd Morant has certainly spent plenty of time in that role His ability to take over games was on display Thursday night the game-winner capped a -point night and helped Memphis snap a four-game losing streak That could have been the story It wasn t At least not the whole story Morant s history with guns real ones and now pretend ones is a talking point again He was suspended twice by the NBA in once for eight games and the other for for showing guns on social media first in a Denver-area nightclub and then for having one in the customer seat of a motorcycle He was criticized this week for making a finger-shooting motion in the direction of the Golden State Warriors bench evidently avoiding league sanction because Buddy Hield of the Warriors was doing the same his way And in Miami on Thursday night there was more celebrations involving him mimicking the act of shooting a gun toward his own bench after a made -pointer It made headlines I m well aware Morant declared I m well aware He was sought if the criticism bothers him He indicated that it doesn t I m kind of used to it Morant declared I was pretty much a villain for two years now Every little thing if somebody can say something negative about me it s going to be out there So yeah I don t care no more The Grizzlies had nothing negative to say Thursday Morant had a tough first half three points on for shooting He was for in the second half getting of his points in that span including the game-winner a play where he knew exactly what he was going to do for the entire seconds of the possession I mean that s beautiful to watch noted Grizzlies interim coach Tuomas Iisalo who got his first win in his fourth attempt since taking over It gives a lot of confidence not just for me as a coach but especially for the whole squad to have a guy like that The win lifted Memphis out of the play-in tournament range and back to No which will be the last guaranteed playoff spot in the Western Conference And Morant celebrated afterward which was to be expected after he was able to come through in a hostile road habitat I think anyone would relish that Grizzlies center Jaren Jackson Jr announced But him specifically I think he thrives off that I mean I wouldn t boo him I wouldn t boo him AP NBA https apnews com hub nba Source