Green Grizzlies tuning up for Jazz

LOS ANGELES • Ja Morant is relishing the pressure of being a game-winner, after he scored a team-high 35 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 117-112 overtime win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday to close out the play-in tournament and grab the final seed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) play-offs.

He helped clinch the winner-take-all victory with a spinning floater from 10 feet with four seconds left in added time, as the Grizzlies advanced to the play-offs for the first time in four years.

"That's the shots I want to take," said the guard, who also had a career-high five three-pointers.

"I like it when the pressure is on me. I lift my game. I got all the confidence in the world in my game.

"It is going to be a fight (against the Utah Jazz). They are the best team in the league and we got to lock in on our game plan."

The youthful Grizzlies won two straight games in the play-in tournament to earn the eighth seed and will now face the top-seeded Jazz in the first game of their series in Salt Lake City today.

With the 21-year-old Morant leading the way, Memphis are the youngest NBA team in the post-season in a decade with an average age of 24.3 years.

The Warriors lost 103-100 to the Lakers on Wednesday before the defeat by the Grizzlies.

"We were two fourth quarters from being the seventh or eight seed," said Stephen Curry.

"It is frustrating that this is the end. It is a very tough way to end it, coming down to the wire and us giving everything we had."

Curry had a game-high 39 points, Andrew Wiggins had 22 points, and Draymond Green finished with a triple-double of 11 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he hoped to see the play-in tournament continue next season.

The league adopted the play-in - a mini-tournament between teams ranked from seventh to 10th in each conference to determine the final two play-off spots - during the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season.

It used the format again this year after the regular season was shortened because of the compressed off-season.

While the format has proven popular - Wednesday's play-in game between the Lakers and the Warriors was the most-watched NBA game on ESPN since 2019 - not everyone is a fan. Lakers star LeBron James and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban were among those who criticised the new format.

Silver, however, told ESPN Radio on Friday that he hoped the play-in would return, pointing out it had sustained interest in the regular season with more teams in the running for a possible play-off spot.

"I understand the sentiment if I were a team - a seven seed in particular - the notion after a long season, you could potentially play out of the play-offs," he said.

"But I think at the same time, the teams recognise the amount of additional interest we've created over the last month of the season."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE