Lakers News: LA Steals Hotly-Contested Win Over Morant-Less Memphis
On the night Los Angeles Lakers legend Pau Gasol saw his No. 16 jersey immortalized forever in the Crypto.com Arena rafters, current LA big man Anthony Davis put up a performance for the ages against the team that drafted Gasol way back in 2001, the Memphis Grizzlies.
With LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell still sidelined due to long-term injuries, and reserve center Mo Bamba also out with a left ankle sprain, LA needed all the help it could get against a Memphis Grizzlies team that remains formidable, but was much more beatable tonight thanks to the absences of Ja Morant, Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke.
Davis was a two-way force from the jump, as he needs to be in all these games down the stretch, frankly:
The first quarter was a chippy, inefficient scoring affair. Davis was already on the cusp of a double-double with 13 points and nine boards, leading his closest LA colleagues in scoring by 10 points. Neither Los Angeles nor Memphis made better than 40% of their shots.
The second quarter proved to be another back-and-forth affair. Both teams traded buckets and leads in the frame.
One of the cooler sequences happened late in the first half. Some tough defense in the paint on 6'11" Grizzlies reserve power forward Santi Aldama from Rui Hachimura left him open to be picked off by LA point guard Dennis Schröder, starting in the place of Russell.
Midway through the second, Lakers fans at Crypto.com Arena temporarily held their breaths when Anthony Davis was inadvertently hit in the nose by Grizzlies reserve David Roddy. He left the game to get the injury treated, but was able to return to action pretty quickly without requiring stitches.
A turnaround Jaren Jackson Jr. jumper pushed Memphis to a one-point lead, 57-56, heading into the halftime break (and Pau Gasol's jersey retirement ceremony).
The third quarter saw the Lakers take a bit of a lead, thanks primarily to the efforts of Davis, Schröder and a heating-up Troy Brown Jr., who once again brought it on both ends tonight:
LA headed into the final frame up just a possession, 82-80.
Desmond Bane, who had been ice cold with a miserable zero points through the game's first three quarters, heated up at last in the fourth, helping the Grizzlies build up a 94-88 lead.
And that's when Los Angeles woke up.
A 17-4 run courtesy of Davis, Schröder and Rui Hachimura put the Lakers up 105-98 with 3:23 remaining in the game.
Jackson answered quickly, knocking down a three to cut the Lakers' lead to just four points, 105-101.
Reserve Los Angeles shooting guard Austin Reaves made a nifty baseline bank shot to put LA up 107-101.
Grizzlies point guard Tyus Jones, starting in the place of the troubled All-Star Ja Morant, immediately responded with a little floater to cut the edge to four again, 107-103.
Troy Brown Jr. delivered probably the game-sealing bucket, a critical triple, to help LA increase their lead to 110-103 with just over a minute remaining.
Davis started to look fatigued in the game's closing minutes, laboring up the floor on a few possessions and missing a pair of free throws that could have iced the game with 1:04 remaining. Instead, Memphis still had a (slim) chance to pull off a miracle comeback.
But they didn't!
Schröder missed a layup attempt, but Davis was right there to clean it up with a put-back to close out the game. LA finished the contest on a 24-9 run, winning 112-103. Davis scored 11 points in the fourth frame alone.
With the victory, the Lakers improved to a 32-34 record and the Western Conference's ninth seed, now just one-and-a-half games behind the Los Angeles Clippers. The Lakers are actually just two games behind the West's fifth seed, the 34-32 Dallas Mavericks. With James gone for at least the next two weeks, stealing victories like tonight is absolutely imperative for this Los Angeles club.
LA may be getting one huge reinforcement back for its next game, against the Toronto Raptors on Friday as starting point guard D'Angelo Russell could make his return at that point from a right ankle sprain.
Conversely, the loss drops Memphis to third place in the West with a 38-26 record on the season, behind the Sacramento Kings (!), who possess an identical record but own the tiebreaker over the Grizzlies. Memphis has lost three straight contests, and with Morant's return timeline still murky, it seems quite possible that the 36-29 Phoenix Suns will surpass the club before the 2022-23 regular season concludes.
Davis finished with 30 points while shooting 11-of-17 from the floor and 7-of-9 from the free throw line, 22 (!) rebounds, three assists and two blocks. He was also a team-high +24 during his minutes on the floor, while LA was -15 in its minutes played with him off it.
Schröder flirted with triple-double terrain. He knocked down 17 points despite having yet another poor shooting night (5-of-14 from the floor), dished out nine assists, and grabbed six boards.
Hachimura and Reaves (17 points apiece) and Brown (13 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including 3-of-6 shooting from long range) were the other Lakers to score in double digits.
Secret non-AD MVP Jarred Vanderbilt turned in his signature defensive moxie while pouring in a relatively modest five points on 2-of-5 shooting and pulling down eight rebounds.
The Lakers benefitted from massive rebounding (57-45) and passing advantages (27-18), though the team struggled to protect the ball, turning over the rock 13 times to the Grizzlies' seven.
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