The Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Friday night, closing out their road trip against the Memphis Grizzlies.
This was the first group play game of the Emirates NBA Cup, and the Lakers got some reinforcements back in the lineup with Luka Doncic and Marcus Smart both returning from injury. Ultimately, that made the difference as Doncic had his third straight 40-point game to begin the season, leading the Lakers to a 117-112 victory to kick off group play.
The Grizzlies got off to a quick 10-4 start before back-to-back buckets by Austin Reaves and Doncic settled the Lakers in. It didn’t take long for Doncic to find a rhythm as he had seven straight points to force a Memphis timeout.
Jaren Jackson Jr. was hot from deep with a pair of triples, which was needed with Doncic also on fire for L.A. When Luka went to the bench, Reaves picked up to scoring load to give the Lakers a 31-27 lead at the end of the first.
Jake LaRavia, Deandre Ayton and Smart all had and-ones early in the second quarter as the Grizzlies couldn’t stop fouling. The Lakers got careless with the ball from there though and Memphis ripped off a 14-4 run to regain the lead.
After a timeout, the Lakers continued to struggle and all of a sudden they faced a double-digit deficit at 65-50 before Smart hit a 3 to end the drought. Overall, it was a rough end to the second quarter for L.A. and the Grizzlies took a 69-55 lead into the halftime locker room.
Jaxson Hayes started the second half in place of Ayton with the latter dealing with some sort of injury that kept him out until the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, the Lakers came out hot to start the third quarter with Doncic, Reaves and Rui Hachimura all hitting triples. Doncic was cooking from there, scoring from everywhere on the court to give his team the lead again.
As was the case to end the second quarter, the Lakers went cold and the Grizzlies jumped back in front, although Dalton Knecht beat the buzzer to ensure the deficit was just two at 91-89.
Reaves and the Lakers came out hot to begin the fourth quarter with there being yet another lead change. They were able to maintain that lead until Doncic returned, and he picked up here he left off with a layup to make it 102-97.
It was all Doncic to close it out as he continued to score with ease, extending the lead to double digits and then cruising to the victory.
With point differential being the tiebreaker in the NBA Cup, the Lakers fought hard until the end to come away with the 5-point win.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will now return home and host the Miami Heat on Sunday night in the first night of a back-to-back before heading back on the road to take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.
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