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          How Ja Morant is using his cross jab to break down the Utah Jazz defense

          • Mike SchmitzJun 2, 2021, 07:00 AM ET

          Through the first two games of the first-round series between the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz, Ja Morant averaged 36.5 points, shot 62% from inside the arc and generated 24 total free throw attempts.

          Whether it was Rudy Gobert or Derrick Favors in a pick-and-roll, or a retreating Jazz defender in transition, Morant put constant pressure on the rim with one of the most devastating moves in the NBA: the cross jab. While we've seen this move from explosive NBA guards ranging from Russell Westbrook to De'Aaron Fox, Morant is one of the first to couple a violent change of pace with touch, finesse and craft.

          What's the origin of Morant's move, what makes it so effective and how can he use it to help Memphis recapture its early series magic against Donovan Mitchell & Co.?

          The origin

          I'll never forget sitting courtside in Evansville, Indiana, for the 2019 Missouri Valley Conference tournament championship. The Ford Center was packed with NBA personnel ranging from general managers to owners like Robert Sarver. Even Arizona Cardinals great Larry Fitzgerald was on hand to take in the show.

          I had already seen Morant live as a freshman against Jevon Carter and West Virginia. I watched him break out at the CP3 camp going into his sophomore year, where he finished one of the most impressive lobs I've ever seen live. I witnessed him jump over a weakside defender in a tiny gym in Martin, Tennessee (he finished with 26 and 18). We had already written about his incredible rise from virtual unknown to elite draft prospect.

          But it was that March 9 game against Belmont, and one move in particular, that sealed the deal Morant was headed for stardom. With just under nine minutes left and Murray State clinging to a two-point lead in a game with NCAA tournament implications, Morant casually tossed the ball from right to left in front of his body. Going from calm and relaxed to full speed instantaneously, Morant explosively dug his right foot into the hardwood just as the ball bounced up into his left hand, leaving defender Kevin McClain wobbly. After one more dribble, Morant took off from his left foot from well outside the charge circle and hammered home a dunk, putting a bow on a 36-point performance that lifted the Racers to the NCAA tournament.

          Although he'd been using the move all year long, Morant's cross jab was introduced to a national audience -- and the entire NBA -- in emphatic fashion.

          "We always thought that one was really hard to guard because you're making them think you're going that way and then you step the opposite way and you're shot out of a cannon," said former Murray State assistant coach and current Radford assistant Shane Nichols, who played a big role in helping Morant develop. "The crazy thing with him is, he picks up stuff so quick. The first time you show him something, he's got it. Just his IQ helps him master stuff like that really quickly."

          Morant's father, Tee Morant, told us Ja has been slicing and dicing through defenses with this move he calls "the bulldog" since the ninth or 10th grade. He even remembers his counters off it, recalling Morant hitting a defender with the cross jab and then rerouting back to his right with a quick through-the-legs move.

          "That's a ferocious move, and it's hard to stop because you don't know what direction he's going," said Tee Morant, who trained Ja in their Dalzell, South Carolina, home growing up. "It's almost like the Shammgod."

          Sports science and performance experts have praised Morant's elasticity, body control, ability to relax and contract his muscles and create concentric force -- all keys to his signature move and surely a product of the late-night tire jumping and resistance slides he did in South Carolina as a teenager.

          Since joining the NBA ranks, Morant has embarrassed a host of bigs with this cross-jab move. As you can see in the clip above, he put Aron Baynes on skates after a switch, unleashing the right-to-left cross jab before catapulting off two feet and flushing the dunk almost before the Aussie big could even leave the floor. NBA bigs know this is his go-to in pick-and-rolls, yet it's still a nightmare to defend.

          "He loves that quick right-to-left crossover, off leg, same arm," explained Deandre Ayton as we watched a clip of Morant getting downhill against him in a pick-and-roll.

          This isn't a new move, but Morant is one of the few who can use it with such versatility. He can either go up to challenge a big like Gobert, slow down into a left-hand, left-foot teardrop, slam on the breaks into a floater or spray the ball out to open shooters. That combination of ferocity and finesse is a big reason I often compared him to a De'Aaron Fox-Trae Young hybrid throughout the pre-draft process.

          "He doesn't care if it was Shaq, he's going to try to dunk on 'em," Nichols said. "That's just his mentality. He's going to come at you for 40 minutes and he's going to really try to make you pay. That's just how he was built and how he was raised. He's going at you."

          This series

          Early in the series, especially in Game 2, when Morant exploded for 47 points on 26 shots, the Jazz had no answer for Morant and his cross jab. Morant regularly caught Favors stuck in mud in these pick-and-roll drops, unleashing the cross jab before stopping on a dime and dropping in a floater.

          Morant has routinely tried to challenge Gobert and his 9-foot-7 standing reach in these drop situations, either going straight up into his body or attempting to sneak in two-foot dunks after cross jabs. That fearless mentality earned Morant 20 free throw attempts in Game 2 alone.

          Good things actually seem to happen when Morant attacks Gobert in pick-and-rolls. In 87 of them with Gobert as the big defender and Morant as the ball handler, the Grizzlies are scoring 1.074 points per chance, which would rank sixth among 14 ball handlers to use at least 100 screens so far in the playoffs. By comparison, the Grizzlies are scoring 0.972 points per chance in all Morant pick-and-rolls, ranking 10th out of 14, meaning they've actually been better when challenging Gobert, the two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the award this season.

          Morant has shown the ability to pass out of ball screens impressively, while also lofting lefty finishes like this one over Gobert, with the Grizzlies guard seemingly operating in slow motion, not even needing to put his right hand on the ball to control it.

          In Game 4, Morant did blow a couple of makeable finishes, including this lefty attempt after he dusted Favors with his cross jab.

          He left a floater short with Gobert as the dropped defender as well. Gobert also did a nice job sitting on Morant's cross jab floater attempt, here contesting perfectly as the Grizzlies' guard left his feet, ultimately forcing a jump pass and turnover. With the Grizzlies down 3-1 in the series, becoming more unpredictable in these situations will be a key to Game 5 for Morant.

          Morant did beat Favors on a switch with his cross jab move before kicking out to an open 3. He maneuvered past Mitchell with a nifty change of direction move in semi-transition. He has even shown counters off the cross jab move in transition, mixing in a behind-the-back wrap dribble as opposed to just exploding to his left.

          Morant is 4-for-22 from 3 in the series, and forcing Jazz guards over the top of screens so the electric guard can get downhill and utilize his patented move will be a clear key in Game 5. Being able to convert the short floaters and pull-ups the Jazz are happy to concede, while also taking advantage of Gobert switches, will be imperative.

          Through four games in this series, it has become clear that the Grizzlies go as Morant goes. If he can get out in space and attack Utah's bigs with his cross jab, convert in midrange areas when bottled up in the half court, continue to make heady kick-out reads or hit-ahead passes and at least keep the Jazz honest from 3, Memphis has a chance to get back in the series in Game 5. Even if the Grizzlies do ultimately fall to the No. 1 overall seed, Morant has quickly reminded everyone why he was the 2020 NBA Rookie of the Year and should be considered one of the league's brightest young stars at just 21 years of age.

          "It's surreal to me, but it's from the work he put in so long and having that chip on his shoulder," said Tee Morant of his son's success so far.

          Mike Schmitz is an NBA Draft expert and a contributor to DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and International teams.