The Memphis Grizzlies – Golden State Warriors series has been as electric as advertised. Both teams like to push up the pace but won’t hesitate to get physical if needed. Sometimes, even maybe too physical.
Dillon Brooks made a hard foul on Gary Payton II and put his status for the remainder of the playoffs in jeopardy. Then, a couple of games later, Ja Morant had to leave the court with a knee injury and could be forced to miss some time.
A clip surfaced of Jordan Poole seemingly grabbing Morant’s knee while trying to reach for the ball. Morant took a shot at Poole by stating that he had ‘broken the code’, yet that wasn’t even the play where he got hurt.
Charles Barkley On Jordan Poole’s Foul On Ja Morant: ‘I’ve Been Kissed Harder Than That’
The replay clearly shows that Poole didn’t even get a clean grab of his knee, nor that he intended to reach out to it. That’s why Charles Barkley just couldn’t take it anymore and called the players out in one of his hilarious rants:
“I’m getting sick of the NBA right now man, give me a break! I’m sick of today’s players, everything ain’t no code man,” Barkley said on NBA on TNT.“Listen, Dillon Brooks, that was a Flagrant 2, but the notion he tried to hurt that kid, I’m not gonna live with that. Now, they’re trying to say, this is the code. Man, give me a break, man! Every call, ‘Let’s see if it’s a flagrant, let’s see if it’s a Flagrant 1, a Flagrant 2.’ Yo, man I’ve been kissed harder than that!”
Poole Says He Never Tried To Hurt Morant
Needless to say, the Warriors guard also tried to clear the air and stated that he never intended to hurt Morant, who quickly deleted the Tweet in which he tried to imply that it had been un purpose:
“You know our mentality,” Poole said. “You know, make a play on the ball. It’s unfortunate. You never want to see that type of stuff. Obviously, it’s not done by – no one is out here dirty. No one is out here like that. But it’s just unfortunate… You know the code.”
“Talk about the code all series at this point. It was a basketball play when we doubled him,” Poole added. “And I hit the ball, and I was going for the ball. I mean, obviously, you don’t want to see anybody get hurt. I’m not even that type of player. I respect everybody.”
Morant is likely to miss Game 4 of the series, which is something you never want to see. Hopefully, that injury won’t linger and he’ll be back for the next matchup, as this has been must-watch basketball thus far.