The Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Sunday night when they hosted the Memphis Grizzlies for the second straight game.
The Lakers took care of business in the first meeting and were looking to do so again, especially with the Grizzlies extremely shorthanded without Ja Morant and others. L.A. was missing some key pieces too, of course, but that didn’t matter as they overcome a 16-point deficit to earn a 120-114 victory and improve to 22-11 on the season.
JJ Redick’s team has been impeccable in clutch time games this season and that continued here as the Lakers pulled away in the final minutes for the win. They are now 12-0 in games that have had clutch time, which as defined as five points or closer in the final five minutes.
As usual, it was Luka Doncic and LeBron James that led the way for L.A. Doncic got out to a hot start offensively and overcame some early turnovers for another strong performance.
The Slovenian star led all scorers with 36 points on 10-of-20 shooting to go with nine rebounds, eight assists and one block. When the Lakers needed some buckets late, Doncic buried back-to-back triples to close it out.
James was steady for his team all night with some impressive two-way play. He seems to be rounding into form in his 23rd season, finishing with 26 points, seven rebounds, 10 assists and one steal.
LeBron was out of rhythm when he first returning from injury, leading many to believe he is finally declining as a player at age 41. That isn’t the case just yet, however, as he is now averaging 25.2 points in his last 11 games since his double-digit scoring streak came to an end.
It wasn’t just Doncic and James that led the way though as Jake LaRavia had his second straight strong performance against his former team. He had 26 points of his own to go along with five rebounds, four assists and a steal in 34 minutes as he continues to get more and more comfortable in the starting lineup.
And finally, Deandre Ayton had an exceptional two-way game with 15 points, eight rebounds, one assist and three blocks in the victory. The Lakers made it a point to get him early touches and he responded with his best game in a while.
What’s next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will now head out on the road for a back-to-back against the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before returning home on Friday.
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