On Monday, coming off the Golden State Warriors’ 117-116 victory in Game 1, Stephen Curry reminisced about his absentminded youth.

Like every student on Davidson’s campus, Curry was issued a CatCard that admitted him to every facility, from the gym to the cafeteria. While his counterpart in the Western Conference semifinals, Ja Morant, has spent his early 20s with the Memphis Grizzlies leading one of the quickest NBA rebuilds in recent years, Curry said he was still losing his CatCard — and trying to remember the location of his dorm. And while Curry was figuring out how to play the pro game, behind Acie Law IV, Morant is playing at the league’s high-stakes table, controlling games with his tenacity.

If Curry was replacing ID cards, Morant has been creating art. And Memphis’ 106-101 Game 2 win is Morant’s showpiece. He ran up 47 points on a true shooting percentage of 64.0. He dragged a Grizzlies team with little offensive rhythm and execution by the scruff of the necks, scoring Memphis’ final 15 points.

“Definitely up there,” Morant said when asked where Tuesday night’s performance ranks in his body of work. “I feel like this was kind of a must-win game for us; and for me, I was frustrated with myself for missing that layup in Game 1.”

For the second time in the past two weeks when asked about his mindset and strategy during his fourth-quarter takeovers, Morant was brief in response. He offered no breakdown of how the defense was scheming and no description of his emotional state. It’s a simple mantra: “Go get a bucket.”

Morant said these buckets in Game 2 were made with limited sight after taking a shot to his left eye in the third quarter. Vision might be a compass, but Morant can find his way to the basket wearing a blindfold.