Markieff Morris locked eyes with his twin brother, Marcus, and that was all the siblings needed.
After making eye contact on their way down the floor, the two did what they have done probably hundreds of occasions messing around in a practice gym, but this time it came against the Los Angeles Lakers in a real NBA game in November: an alley-oop from one brother to another.
Late in the third quarter, Marcus took one dribble toward the paint from the top of the key to draw in the defense and promptly lobbed it to Markieff, who was lurking alone at the rim and flushed it down easily with two hands. Markieff later finished the game with 23 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in a winning effort, capping off one of the finest outings of his career.
This marked one of 16 alley-oops that Markieff has thrown down over the past two seasons. But here's the thing about that: nine of those 16 have been assisted by one player, his twin brother Marcus. Keep in mind, Marcus is a 6-foot-9 forward, not a point guard. It gets more interesting. In his career, Markieff has played at a near All-Star level with his brother on the floor. But without his brother, Markieff has performed no better than average statistically.