Forsberg: The Ja Morant show is in town, and it's must-see TV for these reasons

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The Ja Morant Show rolls in Boston on Thursday night. Or maybe explodes into Boston is the better verbiage.

The Celtics and their second-ranked defense will attempt to avoid landing in Morant's growing collection of viral videos as part of a tour de force that has seen him set career highs in scoring in three of his last four games, all while vaulting into the MVP conversation.

How do the Celtics slow Morant?

The obvious spotlight falls on Marcus Smart as the first line of defense. Smart has sometimes struggled against bigger, athletic guards, though the NBA’s tracking data reflects well on Smart as the closest defender in limited matchup time last season. (Morant, who played only one game against Boston, was 1-of-4 shooting with four points and a turnover in 4:18 of matchup time against Smart).

Alas, Morant routinely blows past perimeter defenders this season. He leads the NBA in paint scoring and set a franchise record with 34 paint points during his career-best 52-point outburst against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday.

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Which is why the real key to limiting Morant’s output might rest in the Celtics' back line defense -- and more specifically, Boston’s own athletic marvel in Robert Williams.

It’s telling that the NBA’s tracking data had Williams as the closest defender on seven of Morant’s 25 shot attempts last season. Williams in his free-safety role and hoop-protecting partner Al Horford will routinely be asked to step up and contest when Morant attacks.

"Big fan of his. Just so impressive how relentless he is and how he's gotten better,” Horford said after Boston’s practice on Wednesday. "You see him getting to the basket, which is impressive, but also shooting the ball. He’s shooting the ball pretty well from the 3-point line and just being very aggressive, very free.

"Their team in general, they play the right way, they move the ball, everybody seems to know their role, they are a very fun team to watch. It's a big challenge for our group but we feel like it's going to be good for us to play against them.”

Seventy-seven percent of Morant’s shots come inside of 14 feet, including 43 percent at the rim, per Cleaning the Glass data. He’s a terror in transition and will put a ton of stress on Boston’s defense to get back. He won’t often settle for long jumpers, and if you send too much attention on his drives, he'll burn you with his passing.

All the attention Morant draws is even more dangerous because of the way the Grizzlies punish teams with second-chance points. Memphis ranks first in the NBA while grabbing 32.7 percent of its missed shots. If your bigs are constantly scrambling to help on Morant, then Memphis is going to hurt you whether he makes the shot or not.

Which puts additional pressure on Boston’s perimeter defenders to keep Morant in front of them. Boston’s switch-happy ways can aid that -- though the absence of Jaylen Brown complicates matters, at least if the Grizzlies try to target second-year Aaron Nesmith.

Boston has one other not-so secret weapon in hoping to slow Morant. Newly acquired Derrick White is maybe the most familiar with Morant after his time in the Western Conference with the San Antonio Spurs.

White and Morant had four minutes, 32 seconds of matchup time in two meetings earlier this season (only Dejounte Murray spent more time on Morant for the Spurs, who watched Morant erupt for a career-high 52 points on Monday). The NBA’s tracking data has Morant scoring 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four assists in 22.5 partial possessions against White this season. That’s a concerning output.

The numbers are slightly more encouraging if you rewind to the 2019-20 season when White logged a more robust 13 minutes of matchup time against Morant, who was credited with 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting over 65.6 partial possessions.

Either way, it’s going to be must-see TV. Morant hasn’t had a whole lot of quiet nights lately and some of it boils down to hoping he’s willing to settle for perimeter shots.

The way he’s playing lately doesn’t suggest he will. And if that 3-point shot is falling, then you’re in even more danger (just ask the Spurs and Bulls). Put him on the free throw line and you’re in for an even longer night.

Dallas was the last team to hold Morant under 20 points. Morant can be prone to turnovers -- no surprise with the amount of time the ball is in his hands -- and the Celtics must make every drive difficult.

Otherwise, they’ll find themselves on Instagram for all the wrong reasons.

Editor's Note: Coverage for Celtics-Grizzlies begins at 7 p.m. ET with tipoff at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston.

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