La perfection selon Cedric Coward

“He’s huge. First game, no missed shots, he helped us win. That’s a big performance from him. I think he’s going to be special.”

I Morant was right from the first match of the season about his beginner Cedric Coward against Pelican. The author of that night’s beautiful 5/5 shots, the winger stood out with his efficiency on both sides of the floor, which earned him the congratulations of his coach Tuomas Iisal, who was not indifferent to the +/- of +24 of his winger.

His second game in the loss against Miami was also good, and Cedric Coward quickly confirmed that, starting last night at Indiana’s reception, finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 27 points, including a perfect 6/6 from 3! Simply put, only four rookies in history have already achieved similar (or better) perfect performances: Chuck Person, Sadik Bey, Kyrie Irving and Nikola Mirotic.

Decisive in the third quarter

Deciding in the third quarter, when Indiana got back to -3, the rookie asserted himself by executing a three-pointer, a floater and a serve for Jaren Jackson’s three-pointer to revive his team.

He followed with two new arrows from behind the arc, two throws and another basket to put his team at +21 (93-72). Indiana did not recovers’inclinant 128-103

“I have to congratulate my teammates. They found me in the right places. These are the shots I work on every day. You have to pretend it’s practice, shoot the same way every time and make every shot count. And tonight they came home. If we can do the same thing today this Monday (at Golden State) everything will be good for us and also for the rest of the season.”, declared the hero of the evening.

If he did his “catch-and-shoot” part with brazen success, Cedric Coward was not satisfied with that, he also attacked the circle, found holes for his teammates and invested in defense. Upon his arrival, he once again panicked the scorers as his 27 points were added with 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and once again the best +/- in the team: +36 points for the Grizzlies during 24 minutes spent on the court!

Great adaptation

“It’s just a result of his approach. He’s a super professional. He’s worked a lot since he arrived, and also since the beginning of the season, between the games against New Orleans and Miami. He’s done a full training session every day, and not only him, but all the other young players. Given our situation, with the injuries, these guys had a great opportunity and took advantage of every second.”, said Tuomas Iisalo. “It helps that he has a leader by his side, but he’s also done a good job of taking advantage of every gap, every action, and he’s been very efficient. He’s starting to feel more comfortable with his shot. He’s putting them in practice and he’s putting them in a lot. He’s also very good at pitching and he showed all of that in his match.”

His quick adaptation can surprise and looks promising for the rest of the season, even if he already showed during training camp. Ja Morant is not surprised. “That’s what I saw from the start of training camp and everything. I was just waiting for him to do the same in the game.”

The Grizzly leader didn’t have to wait long. The 11th pick of the 2025 draft has been the perfect steal for the Tennessee franchise so far.

https://vvv.youtube.com/vatch?v=zFRCkLfV7Dk