Lakers Final Score: LA Steamrolls Memphis At Home To Take 2-1 Series Lead
Well how about your Los Angeles Lakers, ladies and gentlemen?!?
LA put on a show for the Crypto.com Arena faithful tonight, in a chippy Game 3 matchup against the ailing-but-higher-seeded Memphis Grizzlies.
After turning in one of their most dominant opening quarters of the entire season plus a sizzling followup frame, Los Angeles let Memphis back into the game a bit during the second half, and had trouble containing a red-hot Ja Morant run in the contest's fourth quarter.
Ultimately, the Lakers had built up too robust an early advantage, and despite the later slippage, still secured a 111-101 win while leading wire-to-wire. LA now moves to a 2-1 record in its best-of-seven first round playoff series against the Grizzlies. For Game 4 in Los Angeles, the two teams will have a briefer turnaround than usual in this series, and are set to face off against each other again on Monday.
The contest's first quarter went better than almost any other first quarter has ever gone in NBA playoff history.
No, seriously.
LA ran off to a 35-9 start, matching the biggest lead after an opening frame in the history of the league, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Starters LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and D'Angelo Russell all chipped in eight points a piece, while reserve Rui Hachimura continued to score confidently himself with seven points in just 4:16.
Davis remained absolutely dominant in the paint. Watch him clean up this botched D-Lo floater inside:
James, too, came out ready to play.
Los Angeles went 14-of-27 from the floor in the period and out-rebounded Memphis 20-12. The Grizzlies managed to shoot just 3-of-25 from the field and coughed up the ball six times in that first period alone. It was really a two-way master class.
A lineup comprising starters James and Austin Reaves, plus backup pieces Hachimura, Troy Brown Jr., and Dennis Schröder, helped the Lakers continue to pile it on at the top of the second quarter.
With Davis and Malik Beasley joining the fray for Hachimura and Schröder, respectively, James put the finishing touches on the Lakers' biggest league of the night, a 29-point advantage (44-15!) with 7:35 remaining in the first half.
That's when the Lakers let their foot off the gas a bit. The Grizzlies outscored Los Angeles 22-9 the rest of the way, shrinking LA's edge to a much more manageable 16 points, 53-37, at the halftime break.
The third quarter kicked off with another positive development for LA, when perennial LeBron James irritant Dillon Brooks got ejected for the night 17 seconds into the frame for hitting James in the family jewels.
As the third quarter wore on, the Grizzlies, perhaps out of frustration or perhaps out of sheer pettiness, started following the absent Brooks' lead with some positively dirty play in the second half with the game rapidly getting out of hand.
Beyond Brooks, the worst offense was probably this double-shove of Hachimura shoved by David Roddy and John Konchar late in the third, which prompted a bit of a dust-up:
Things at times seemed on the precipice of unraveling for the Lakers as Memphis' less-than-above-board behavior was clearly getting to LA. But Los Angeles steadied the ship, and finish the third quarter up 20, 88-68.
Midway through the fourth quarter, the game essentially morphed into a battle between a scorching Morant and the entire Lakers team. At one point, Morant had scored 22 straight points on 8-of-10 shooting (4-of-5 from deep) for Memphis to singlehandedly keep the Grizzlies kinda/sorta within striking distance of Los Angeles, eventually helping to cut down the Lakers' lead to just 10 points with 1:07 remaining. But it would get no closer than that.
The final frame proved to be a study in contrasts, as Morant looked to push the pace as he continued to chip away at the Lakers' advantage, while Los Angeles tried to run down the clock with deliberately paced possessions.
Morant appeared to roll his left calf while landing awkwardly off a dunk, and had to be helped up by Steven Adams. We'll keep you updated with the latest on the availability of the Grizzlies' best player as we know. The 6'2" superstar point guard led all scorers with 45 points while shooting 13-of-26 from the floor (6-of-10 from long range!) and 13-of-14 from the foul line, dishing out 13 dimes, and grabbing nine rebounds.
Davis more than doubled his Game 2 scoring total in this one, getting 31 points on 11-of-24 shooting from the field, pulling down 17 boards, swatting away three blocks, stealing two balls and passing for two dimes. Memphis' starting frontcourt, newly-minted Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and Xavier Tillman were basically powerless to stop AD, and his and Jarred Vanderbilt's defensive activity helped clamp down on their output, too. That duo scored a combined 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the floor.
James was no slouch, either, scoring 25 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 free throw shooting, plus nine rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. This throwback reverse dunk was his best moment:
Three other Lakers finished in double digits: Russell (17 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the field), Hachimura (16 points on 6-of-10 shooting), and Reaves (13 points on 5-of-10 shooting).
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