Grizzlies' Ja Morant points to off-court issues -- Need 'more discipline' - ESPN

LOS ANGELES — A Memphis Grizzlies season marred by several controversies involving the face of the franchise finished much earlier than expected and in embarrassing fashion Friday night, when they were eliminated in a first-round series that ended with a 125-85 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6.

After the most lopsided postseason loss in franchise history, All-Star point guard Ja Morant took accountability for the Western Conference No. 2-seeded Grizzlies' disappointing season, acknowledging that his off-court issues negatively impacted the team.

«I've just got to be better with my decision-making,» said Morant, who finished with 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting in the blowout defeat. «That's pretty much it. Off-the-court issues affected us as an organization pretty much. Just [need] more discipline.»

Morant, 23, served an eight-game suspension due to conduct detrimental to the league in March after he displayed a handgun during an early-morning Instagram Live session from a Denver-area strip club. In a statement announcing the suspension, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admonished Morant for acting in a manner that was «irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.»

The NBA also investigated allegations by the Indiana Pacers stemming from a postgame confrontation with Morant's associates after the Grizzlies' home win on Jan. 29. Members of the Pacers' traveling party said that a red laser, which they believed to be from a gun, was pointed at them from an SUV in which Morant was riding. The NBA released a statement confirming that there was a confrontation but that the league «could not corroborate that any individual threatened others with a weapon.»

Davonte Pack, Morant's childhood best friend who stepped