The Los Angeles Lakers’ first road trip of the season has been a disappointing one, losing three of four games including to the Detroit Pistons in their last contest.
The Lakers were looking to bounce back and end the trip on a high note on Wednesday evening when they took on the Memphis Grizzlies. They were extremely shorthanded though as Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura were both ruled out just before tipoff. As a result, the Lakers ended a 1-4 road trip with a 131-114 loss in Memphis.
L.A.’s lack of size was apparent early as Zach Edey was able to get some easy offensive rebounds and then a dunk for the Grizzlies to take a 10-4 lead.
While the Lakers were getting a lot of open 3-point looks early, they missed their first six before LeBron James finally connected to beat the shot clock. Austin Reaves then went into attack mode and D’Angelo Russell made a triple as the Lakers settled in and cut their deficit to 20-18.
Without Davis and Hachimura in the lineup, Christian Koloko made his season debut for the Lakers and immediately got himself in the statsheet with a nice block. He then had a dunk on a nice pass from Reaves, although the Lakers had a poor close to the first quarter and trailed 35-27.
James and the Lakers began the second quarter on a 7-2 run to keep things close. While they couldn’t get many 3s to go, LeBron was in attack mode and scoring in a variety of ways.
Things got a little chippy to end the half with James and Ja Morant going back and forth, causing the latter to pick up a technical foul. The Grizzlies still went into the halftime locker room with a 59-53 advantage though.
James stayed hot to begin the third quarter with eight quick points, although Grizzlies role players like Jaylen Wells and Jay Huff were hitting 3s at will to keep their team in front. Huff, in particular, had a stretch of making three straight triples and then a putback dunk.
Another former Laker got in on the action as Scotty Pippen Jr. beat the third quarter buzzer to give the Grizzlies a 95-81 lead going into the fourth.
The Grizzlies’ hot shooting continued into the fourth as they went on a quick 8-0 run to essentially put the game out of reach. Outside of James, the Lakers couldn’t get any shots to fall. When the deficit ballooned to 22 with seven minutes to play, Redick pulled the plug and sat James down for the night.
What’s next for the Lakers
After completing their first road trip of the season, the Lakers will now return home for three games, hosting the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, Toronto Raptors on Sunday and then the Grizzlies again next Wednesday.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
