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Lakers: Ja Morant Spoils Historic Night For LeBron James

Another excellent LeBron game was not enough to overcome superstar point guard Ja Morant and a hungry Grizzlies club.
Alex Kirschenbaum|
Lakers: Ja Morant Spoils Historic Night For LeBron James
Lakers: Ja Morant Spoils Historic Night For LeBron James

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Los Angeles LakersMemphis Grizzlies

Yet another spectacular individual outing from LeBron James was not enough to prevent superstar point guard Ja Morant and a hungry young Memphis Grizzlies club from securing a 104-99 comeback victory over the James-fronted Los Angeles Lakers tonight in FedEx Forum.

James, Russell Westbrook, and the rest of the visiting Lakers looked to be more or less in control for most of tonight's road game against the Grizzlies. Unfortunately, that proved not to be the case for the game's last 14:26. In that pivotal stretch, the Grizzlies outscored the Lakers 34-16 (not a misprint) to rally all the way back from an 83-70 deficit near the end of the third quarter to finish with a 104-99 victory. The Lakers ran out of gas late, struggling to contain a feisty, considerably more athletic Memphis club, led by burgeoning mega-star point guard Ja Morant.

For the Grizzlies, Morant nailed a career-best 6-of-7 three-pointers. He had 41 points and 10 rebounds while looking like the best player on the floor during the game's second half.

LeBron James is having a sort of confounding run of late. The Los Angeles Lakers All-Star, a day away from his 37th birthday, has scored 30 or more points while making at least half of his shots across each of LA's past six games for the first time ever in his illustrious, 19-season career. Five of those games, including tonight, have been losses. Today, he tied his own career high for most made triples in a single game, nailing eight three-pointers (out of 14 looks).

James went 13-of-25 from the field and 3-of-3 from the free-throw line tonight en route to scoring 37 points. He also pulled down 13 rebounds, dished out seven assists, and grabbed two steals and two blocks.

After being a healthy scratch last night, Dwight Howard received the starting center nod from acting Lakers head coach (and former Grizzlies head coach) David Fizdale, to better match up against 7-foot Grizzlies bruiser Steven Adams. James moved down a position to power forward, while Stanley Johnson returned to the bench. Malik Monk continued to start in place of Talen Horton-Tucker at small forward, and the backcourt was rounded out by Avery Bradley at shooting guard and Russell Westbrook running the point.

In 16:26 of action, Howard finished with six points, one board, and one assist, though he was a team-best +17. He made the most of his opportunity with a handful of nifty throwback slams:

The Lakers started out strong, though the Grizzlies were shooting very poorly from the field (35.4% from the floor, including 14.3% from deep) throughout the first half. Sloppy LA turnovers kept the proceedings closer than they needed to be early.

Los Angeles was in the flow, and seemingly getting it done on both ends. Behold, as LeBron's block of a Ja Morant jumper leads to a Westbrook layup:

Even LeBron's nemesis Skip Bayless was into it:

Unfortunately, the first sign of trouble came near the close of the first half. The Lakers saw a double-digit second quarter lead evaporate before halftime, thanks to a Ja Morant 7-0 run late in the frame. LA finished the half up by just six, 54-48. The Lakers couldn't score for the final 2:32 of the period.

At the start of the second half, the Lakers appeared to be re-energized. Monk and Howard were getting into the action, and Westbrook already had a double-double by the middle of the third quarter. James, too, was looking sharp. Though he didn't score as consistently as usual from inside the paint, his shoot was falling from long range:

Even 10-day contract signee Stanley Johnson (who sure looks like a keeper) got in on the three-point fun. Johnson hit a triple of his own to boost the Lakers to a 83-70 late in the third... and then things unraveled for LA. The Lakers failed to score in the last 2:25 of the third quarter, and Morant proved he had ice in his veins with a quarter-ending triple to get the Grizzlies within five heading into the deciding frame:

The Grizzlies' hot streak continued into the next, conclusive frame. Desmond Bane nailed his second triple of the game early in the fourth quarter to tie the game 83-83. The Grizzlies then immediately went on a 13-0 run, from the moment after Johnson's triple pushed the Lakers' lead to 83-70 through the top of the fourth quarter.

After being down by as many as 14 points in the second half, the Grizzlies came roaring back with a vengeance. Their aforementioned 34-16 run, fueled mostly by Morant, with help from Desmond Bane and a few others, absolutely befuddled a seemingly exhausted Lakers club. Bane scored 20 points overall. Some Westbrook hiccups (a turnover and a botched jumper) at the end of the third quarter seemed to galvanize the Grizz. 

The Grizzlies' aggressive defense, in combination with Morant's otherworldly offense, ultimately outlasted the Lakers' competent night on offense.

Russell Westbrook had a fairly Westbrookian game. He logged another triple double, scoring 16 points on a decent 7-of-16 shooting line from the floor (and even went 2-of-4 from deep!) to go along with 12 assists and 10 rebounds. He also had five turnovers (as did LeBron) and used up five personal fouls. Westbrook took a few questionable jumpers, but the biggest issue on offense was several blown layup looks. Take a gander at the clip below, if you dare:

Westbrook's otherworldly athleticism seems to have come down to earth lately. Or heck, maybe he was just tired on the second night of a back-to-back. Regardless, there's no excusing his defense lapses against Morant, which could have made the difference between a win and a loss for LA. Watch Westbrook give up on defense halfway through this possession, allowing Morant to get a second try at a high-percentage make:

Malik Monk was the only other Lakers scorer in double figures on the night. He went 6-of-9 from the floor overall (including 2-of-5 from deep) for a sum of 15 points in 31:27 of action.

Despite the Lakers' struggles in the fourth quarter, they at least kept things close late. After both teams went back and forth for a bit, the Lakers gave up the lead for good in the middle of the period. LA would get within three points thanks mostly to LeBron's sharpshooting.

However the game was lost, for good this time, thanks to a listless effort from James that led to a sloppy turnover, his fifth and most impactful, with eight seconds left:

Ultimately, the Lakers leaders looked pretty gassed. Westbrook, 33, played 39:33 in the second night of a back-to-back. James, a day away from 37, didn't fare much better in terms of his minutes load. The 6'9" forward was on the hardwood for 37:57. Unfortunately, with seven Lakers sidelined, acting head coach David Fizdale felt compelled to maximize his best players against his old team.

With the defeat, the Lakers fall to a 17-19 record on the year, and have lost six of their last seven games. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, saw their record rise to 22-14 on the season.

Are the Lakers playing LeBron way too many minutes? Clearly. He is currently averaging 37.2 minutes a night in the 24 contests he has been able to play. That number represents his most minutes per game since his 2016-17 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. That sum is just behind Toronto Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet's 37.9 minutes per game for the most in the entire NBA. VanVleet, by the way, is 27.

The whole point of adding Russell Westbrook to the team this year was to help relieve James from the rigors of the regular season, but the veteran point guard's exorbitant $44.2 contract, when coupled with the salaries of James and injured big man Anthony Davis, left LA with limited wiggle room to build a team around them that would be any good. The Lakers are slowly figuring out which role players among their number are helpful, and which aren't, but the fact remains that they still need a lot of help if they want to preserve the legs of James and Westbrook heading into the spring.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Currently also a scribe for Newsweek, Hoops Rumors, The Sporting News and "Gremlins" director Joe Dante's film site Trailers From Hell, Alex is an alum of Men's Journal, Grizzlies fan site Grizzly Bear Blues, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others.

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