As Penny Hardaway and Memphis basketball fall apart, Ja Morant and the Grizzlies take flight | Giannotto

If you were watching from home on your screens of choice, the shots were launched almost simultaneously, but nearly 400 miles apart.

Two came from a half-empty gym in New Orleans by the college basketball team that Memphis fell in love with generations ago. A third came from a raucous FedExForum in Memphis, by the pro basketball team capturing the hearts of the city once more with a new generation of players.

Neither Alex Lomax and Lester Quinones nor Ja Morant drew iron. The difference, of course, is that Lomax and Quinones each missed on their last-chance attempts that provided Tulane its stunning 85-84 win over the Tigers. Morant, meantime, hit nothing but net on a 3-pointer from the corner, part of a 12-0 run that served as a fitting fourth-quarter flourish in the Grizzlies’ scintillating 103-99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Two different teams from Memphis, two different results and two very different outlooks heading into 2022.

GIANNOTTO: Add Ja Morant's happiness to your Christmas list. It's the gift every Memphis Grizzlies fan needs

GIANNOTTO: Memphis basketball's unvaccinated players — and Penny Hardaway's negligence — threaten season

This was a night that encapsulated what the past month has been like and what the next few months are shaping up to be. The Tigers are sinking faster and further than anyone imagined when coach Penny Hardaway brought in another No. 1 recruiting class. The Grizzlies are taking off faster and further than anyone imagined when this NBA season began.

This was a night when the Grizzlies and Morant provided another well-timed reprieve from the mounting misery of this Memphis basketball season. A night in which they closed out LeBron James with a defensive stand and the Tigers' defense was just plain offensive.

This was a night in which COVID-19 took out a large chunk of both rosters. The Grizzlies were missing Dillon Brooks, De’Anthony Melton and John Konchar, among others, due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, and yet their absences created a sense of anticipation, of who might fill the void next. The Tigers were without arguably their two best players due to COVID-19-related issues – senior DeAndre Williams and freshman star Jalen Duren – and there was only angst.

“Whatever happened today, it’s because we didn’t have enough will to get it done. It had nothing to do with the (COVID-19) pause," Hardaway said after the Tigers got consecutive stops just once after halftime, and he decided to put the ball in Lomax's hands in the final seconds.

GIANNOTTO: Behind the scenes of a Memphis-Tennessee basketball game that never happened

UPDATE: Memphis coach Penny Hardaway on COVID issues: 'We look forward to this not being a problem for us anymore'

Consider that the two worst losses of the Hardaway era at Memphis, according to the KenPom ratings, occurred this season at Georgia and at Tulane this season. Consider that Georgia (5-8) now has losses to Wofford, East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb and Tulane (4-7) had losses to Southern, Toledo, Valparaiso and Charleston on its ledger.

Consider that those defeats probably end any hope of Memphis securing an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament this season.

Now consider that during the 29 days between those two Tigers' losses the Grizzlies have done, among other things:

• Set a new NBA record for margin of victory (73) against Oklahoma City

• Become the only team in the NBA this season to get wins over the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz.

• Gone 11-4 to move from tied for fifth in the Western Conference standings, with one game separating them from 10th place, to No. 4 with a 3.5-game lead over No. 5 as of Wednesday.

Then there’s Morant, who has gone from a serious-looking knee injury to insulted by rogue fans to incendiary once more, blossoming into the kind of superstar the city has never had before. The kind who can hit a game winner, score 41 points and out-duel Chris Paul, Devin Booker and James in consecutive games. The kind who will play in the first of many All-Star games this year. The kind who gets "M-V-P" chants because he might just be an MVP candidate right now.

DYNAMIC DUO: Why Ja Morant and Desmond Bane of Grizzlies are NBA's most promising young backcourt

MORANT MAGIC: Ja Morant takes another step in solidifying All-Star status with 41-point performance

It’s remarkable how it all came together so smoothly for the Grizzlies. How aesthetically pleasing their brand of basketball has become. How well everyone from Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane and Brooks to Konchar and Killian Tillie is playing. How quickly the franchise rebuilt itself into a legitimate Western Conference threat again.

Almost as unbelievable as how quickly it's coming apart for the Tigers. From the faith that Hardaway can figure this out to the notion this team would, at the very least, break the program's wretched NCAA Tournament drought.

This polarization is a function of how important each result is for postseason play in college basketball, of how long the season is in the NBA, of how much history is involved. Hardaway, for instance, still has a better career winning percentage (.651) than Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins (.513), and yet there's no confusion over the most effective coach at the moment.

This is simply the dynamic in Memphis, where the Tigers share and oftentimes usurp the spotlight from their NBA counterpart, even though success has rarely coincided over the past 21 years.

It didn't Wednesday either, a night that felt like another bad omen for the Tigers and another opportunity for the Grizzlies to dream bigger.

You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: As Penny Hardaway and Memphis fall apart, Ja Morant and Grizzlies take flight