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
Ja Morant made his return to the NBA one to remember.
The Grizzlies guard carried the team to a 115-113 win, hitting the game-winning bucket at the buzzer as he scored 34 points in his first game back from a 25-game NBA ban.
Down by as much as 24 points, Morant rallied his team with 27 points in the second half, and he saved the best two for last.
With the game tied and less than 10 seconds to go, Morant carried the ball up the court and slowly dribbled to the 3-point line.
From there, he picked up speed, made a spin move toward the basket and hit the backboard, banking the shot in as the buzzer sounded, giving Memphis a thrilling win.
After the game, he spoke with TNT about what it was like coming back to the court after his suspension for flashing a firearm this past spring on an Instagram Live video.
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“I’m a dog, I’m a dog. I put in work —” he said before he was greeted by cheering teammates who cut him off mid-sentence.
“I’ve been putting in work in, man. I ain’t play that game for eight months. Had a lot of time, you know, learned myself. A lot of hard days, you know, where I went through it. But basketball is my life, what I love, therapeutic for me. And I’m just excited to be back.”
Morant, who was booed by Pelicans fans early in the game, finished the night going 12 of 24 from the field while adding eight assists and six rebounds.
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The 24-year-old said he was happy to be back with his teammates.
“They’re my guys, they’re my brothers,” he said on TNT. “We put in the work together — hard practices, light practices, treatment, flights. We spent a lot of time together through this process, helped me out a lot.”