All-Star point guard John Wall and his backcourt mate Bradley Beal have led the charge for the Washington Wizards since their sluggish 6-12 start to this season. Being counted out early always serves as a source of motivation. But they aren’t the only Wizards being fueled by a slight. Markieff Morris has his own motivation these days and he’s taking it out on the opposition. Today’s foe, the New Orleans Pelicans (6 p.m. ET, NBA TV), should beware, writes Candace Buckner of the Washington Post:
Markieff Morris tried to play it cool. His teammates and coaches know him to be low-key, inhibited even, so why now — after continuing to play some of the best basketball of his career while limiting a four-time all-star to his worst statistical night of the season — would Morris suddenly break character?
Initially, he tried to give the kind of stock answer that rolls so easily from an athlete’s lips.
“I don’t know. You just get those stretches sometimes where you play good basketball like I’ve been playing,” Morris said Friday night after the Washington Wizards battered the Atlanta Hawks. In the 112-86 win, Morris contributed 15 points and nine rebounds, including five on the offensive glass, and shut down Paul Millsap, his all-star counterpart at power forward.
Then Morris cleared his throat.
“I just a got a little bit of motivation,” he teased. “A little bit of extra motivation that made me realize I could do more and I can bring more to the team.”
Prodded about the mysterious motivation, Morris shared the story.
A couple weeks ago, his agent sent him a text. There was a note about a Bleacher Report story that listed the NBA’s top 30 power forwards at the halfway point of the season. Morris didn’t click the link or see the names; he only read Dan Brinkley’s message.
“They didn’t have me on there,” Morris recalled.
Let that sink in. There are 30 starting power forwards in the NBA. Morris fills that role for the 26-20 Wizards and wasn’t even considered to be better than 29th-ranked David Lee, who averages 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds while coming off the bench for the San Antonio Spurs.
“Ever since I’ve seen that it’s been kill,” Morris said. “They think I’m a [expletive] joke and I don’t play like that. So every game I look at that. It gives me more motivation.”
The Wizards have reaped the benefits from Morris’s burning fire. During the team’s 10-4 January, Morris has collected four double-doubles, three more than he had through the first two full months of the season. He has also played an overlooked role in his dual role as a starter and the stabilizer of the second unit.
“Last couple weeks he has been playing as well as anybody on our team,” Coach Scott Brooks said of Morris. “I think the comfort level with me and the comfort level with his team are definitely showing. He has been a big part of our success on the road.”
