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SALT LAKE CITY — During a timeout in the first quarter of Memphis’ 107-106 win over the Jazz on Friday at FedExForum, Mike Conley couldn’t help but glance up.
A video tribute, showing highlights of his 12 years as Grizzly, was playing. It was a montage filled with his friends and some of his best memories — he simply had to watch.
“Coach was drawing a play and I was just looking up and trying to pay attention,” Conley said. “I don't know what to do. I don’t know if he's gonna get mad at me or not but I had to watch it. It was tough. Teammates were waiting for me to cry; it was just a weird situation.”
Conley was welcomed home to a thunderous standing ovation on Friday. And then every time he made a shot, which, unfortunately for the Jazz, didn’t come often in a 5-of-19 night, there were cheers from the same crowd that rooted for him for more than a decade.
He described the night as “weird,” “amazing,” “backward” and “surreal.” From looking into the crowd and seeing familiar faces everywhere to talking in the visitors’ locker room postgame and everything in between, it was an odd and special night.
“Part of you is just soaking it all in and the other part is trying to focus and stay locked in the game,” Conley said. “I'm glad I got it over with. It was an amazing experience but it would have been better if we'd won.”
His replacement, Ja Morant, was one of the main reasons for the Jazz loss. Morant was superb, scoring 25 points and dishing out eight assists in what was often a dazzling display. Conley even went up to him during the game to offer up congratulations and to let him know that he’d be in Memphis for a long time.
But no matter how long Morant stays, it’s hard to imagine him having the impact Conley did.
“You couldn't even look in the crowd without seeing somebody waving or somebody I knew,” Conley said.”And every one of those people triggers a memory just being in the building. So it was just almost kind of dreamy kind of filling out there. It was a little surreal.”
Those people loved Conley and he loved them right back.
After the Jazz traded for Conley, all Donovan Mitchell kept hearing was how much he was going to love playing and being around the point guard. The praise got to a point that Mitchell starting joking, “Is there anything I’m not going to love?”
“I haven't heard one negative thing and I still haven't,” Mitchell said. “And I can see why. He's meant a lot to us, especially to me.”
After the video tribute was played, Conley got another standing ovation — and this time he got to properly acknowledge it. He stood up from the Jazz bench and waved to the crowd as his teammates looked to see if tears were forming.
“I almost cried for him,” Mitchell said. “That was pretty special. … What he's done for this city and the way they've embraced him is incredible.”
As for Quin Snyder, it doesn’t appear that he was bothered by Conley taking a long look while he was being honored.
“He's a great player,” Snyder said. “And obviously people here in Memphis recognize that so it was nice to see him get that recognition; that makes you feel good for him.”
