Lakers Final Score: Turns Out Ja Morant Was Not Fine In The West
After a bunch of national handwringing about an admittedly bad Game 5 defeat on the road in Memphis, your Los Angeles Lakers turned in their best game of the 2023 NBA postseason thus far.
With Jack Nicholson and Kyrie Irving sitting courtside at Crypto.com Arena, LA put on a massive scoring clinic, and had essentially won the game midway through its second quarter.
D'Angelo Russell finally turned in a signature game, scoring 31 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the floor (5-of-9 from deep) and 2-of-4 shooting from the field. He also logged five assists and four boards. This remarkably was the first time in a playoff game, in 17 tries, that D-Lo had shot over 50% from the field. Did it help that Kyrie Irving was watching? Perhaps.
Ja Morant, who earlier this season was so confident his team would make the NBA Finals he infamously claimed he was "fine in the West", had a hilariously terrible night in a must-win closeout game. He scored 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field (2-of-7 from deep), six assists and five boards.
In just 31:15, LeBron James notched 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting (a huge bounce back game after a miserable 15-point outing Wednesday), dished out six dimes and pulled down five boards. Anthony Davis played even less, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting and grabbing 14 rebounds in 28:29.
It was a thoroughly dominant performance from a team that had looked distressingly worn down on the road in Game 5, and must come as something of a relief for LA fans as they look ahead to the second round.
Darvin Ham officially subbed in his deep bench (including, yes, some Mo Bamba minutes) with 9:10 remaining in regulation and the Lakers leading by 32 points.
All told, LA outscored Memphis 125-85, and will move on to a Western Conference Semifinals matchup against the winner of the ongoing Sacramento Kings-Golden State Warriors first round series, knotted up at 3-3.
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