The Lakers defense was non-existent as they couldn’t stop the Memphis Grizzlies from scoring, losing 131-114 on Wednesday night.
With Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura ruled out, LeBron James would have to take over the offensive load. He ended the game with 39 points, seven rebounds, and six assists. Tonight was also LeBron’s 1,500th regular season game.
Austin Reaves scored 19 points and had five assists along with three rebounds and three steals. D’Angelo Russell pitched in with 12 points to go with his three assists and two steals. Cam Reddish had 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Grizzlies rookie Zach Edey started things off with a layup. Memphis attacked early and jumped to a four-point lead, while LA struggled to score. D’Lo scored four straight points. The Grizzlies jumped ahead by six after D’Lo started heating up for LA. LeBron knocked down a three to cut the deficit to three.
Memphis was turning the ball over a lot, having six already, but the Lakers couldn’t take advantage of it to gain momentum. Dalton nailed a three to make it a three-point game.
AD’s presence in the paint was missed, as the Grizzlies could score at ease without his defense stopping them. At the end of the first, LA was down by eight.
The turnover woes continued for the Grizzlies who weren’t playing clean ball. LA’s offense was slightly smoother and they cut the deficit to three on a 3-pointer by LeBron. As Memphis tried to extend their lead, the Lakers kept staying afloat.
Dalton put in great effort to rebound the ball twice for an eventual dunk by Jaxson Hayes. Jaxson then had another dunk to make it a four-point game. Reddish once again did all the dirty work with his strong defense. He stole the ball and took it to the other end for a layup.
With two minutes left until halftime, LeBron started taking over offensively. He was up to 13 points in the quarter. The energy picked up heavily with both teams trading baskets. Ja Morant and LeBron went back and forth, which got the crowd hyped up.
The two superstars exchanged baskets and Ja bumped LeBron. On another play, Ja did a too-small gesture to Gabe Vincent and Lebron returned the favor.
At halftime, Memphis was up six.
The second half began with LeBron passing it to Jaxson for another dunk. Memphis countered by scoring nine straight points on three 3-pointers to go ahead by 11. LeBron knocked down two 3-pointers to make it a five-point game.
Los Angeles tried to stay close enough to mount an attack, but after a few shots and a three by former Laker Jay Huff, the Grizzlies’ lead ballooned to 11.
Huff was feeling himself, completely taking advantage of his former team, even converting on a strong put-back dunk.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Lakers, who were down by 14 at the end of the third.
The final frame started with an and-1 by Jaren Jackson Jr. and a Luke Kennard three. Not a single thing was going LA’s way as Memphis’ lead kept growing.
LeBron tried to get the team going singlehandedly and cut the deficit to 16, but the Grizzlies couldn’t be stopped offensively.
With four minutes left and the game out of reach, the rest of the period was garbage time.
Key Takeaways:
When will we see Max Christie and Gabe have a productive offensive game? Both players seem to be drowning in low confidence.
Reddish put in the work for the bench, but the other points mostly came in garbage time. The bench needs to wake up during the game.
The Lakers understandably struggled with points in the paint without AD. They only had 44 to Memphis’ 60.
The Lakers will try to get back in the win column on Friday at home against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
