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Grizzlies’ Ja Morant runs into technical trouble after hitting Lakers’ LeBron James
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Grizzlies’ Ja Morant runs into technical trouble after hitting Lakers’ LeBron James

Things are heating up between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers.

A sequence between Ja Morant and LeBron James in the second quarter resulted in the Grizzlies point guard shoving James in the back and committing a technical foul.

Morant drove to the basket and scored over Lakers guard Gabe Vincent before lowering his hand to the floor and signaling the “too small” gesture.

James later returned the favor. While isolated against Morant, James lowered his shoulder into the Grizzlies’ smaller guard and scored over him, making the same gesture.

When he got back to his feet, Morant laughed before throwing the ball up and scoring against the Lakers. After the basket, Morant ran toward James and pushed him in the back just enough for the referees to stop the action and call a technical foul.

Things have been simmering between the Lakers and Grizzlies for the last two seasons. James called out the 2022 Grizzlies for their trash talk and later helped the Lakers defeat Memphis in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.

Grizzlies players weren’t particularly pleased last season when James threw down a breakaway dunk near the end of a Lakers win in Memphis in April and posed in front of a group of injured players that included Morant, Desmond Bane and Luke Kennard.

Wednesday’s series at FedExForum is the latest and likely won’t be the last sequence of competition between these two Western Conference contenders.

Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at [email protected]. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.

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