(Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images)
There is a lot going wrong for the Washington Wizards right now between poor defense, having lost four of their last five, and John Wall dealing with a left shoulder sprain that caused him some of the most pain in his NBA career. On the bright side, Markieff Morris played in an NBA game for the first time since the Wizards' Game 7 loss against the Boston Celtics on May 15. He played a shade over 16 minutes and only finished with 2 points, 4, rebounds, and 3 assists, but the bottom line is that he is back, did not have any setbacks, and on his way to ramp up the ceiling of his minutes restrictions against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday.
“I felt cool," Morris said about is first game action of the season. "I was just slow rolling right now, just trying to get back into a groove.”
Despite the decent showing from Morris in his limited minutes, which Scott Brooks expected based on how he was performing in practice leading up to Friday's game, he is self-critical of his 1 of 6 shooting night. "Couple tough shots, should have made them but I am just coming catching a little rhythm,” Morris responded when asked about the early touches he was getting in the game. "I did not do anything."
For Morris, the biggest challenge after a six week layoff was getting his legs back under him. He did not seem to be lagging behind significantly, but he all was not full Death Row DC Keef.
“Conditioning is the most important which is being in great shape so that you do not get those little nagging injuries," Morris explained. "That is the reason why I am playing 16 minutes now because I do not feel like I am in that good of a shape to be playing that long.”
Witth Morris not playing in the fourth quarter, the frame that LeBron James scored 19 of his 57 points, Washington had to throw automatic mismatches defensively at the best player in the NBA. With Morris' physicality on par with James, when asked if he could have helped contained The King, he simply responded 'hell yeah!' Never change Keef, never change.
"I like when he's back," Brooks began. "I like when he's on our team, on the floor. It's good to have him back. You can tell, he was a little rusty. He had a lot of good looks, every game is going to be a little better with game shape."
"It's always great [to have Morris back]," John Wall said. "When teams try to switch against us, we always know we have a person that we can throw the ball to in the post that can score."
“I’m happy for him," Bradley Beal said. "It’s hard coming off an injury and coming into a big game like that, that’s a tough first game for him. At the same time, he’s a competitor and he’s always ready. We’re gradually implicating him and he’s going to be big for us. We already know that and we trust him to come back slowly but surely and just take him time because we need him.”
“It’s always nice to have our brother back on the court," Kelly Oubre Jr. shared. "We just have to get him in a groove of things and get him back to his old self and we’ll be up and running.”