After splitting the first two games of the series, the Los Angeles Lakers managed to defend their home court and beat the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 3.
The Lakers led wire to wire as they jumped to a massive 35-9 lead in the first quarter. The cushion was needed as Memphis mounted a furious comeback in the fourth quarter led by Ja Morant, but Los Angeles made enough shots at the end to pull out the victory.
The atmosphere was electric at Crypto.com Arena as fans were loud and hyped from the jump ball. LeBron James acknowledged he could feel how much the fans wanted to see them play.
“It was amazing. It was amazing,” James said. “You can tell they’ve been looking forward to this and we have as well and the energy they gave us we just try to reciprocate that by playing the game at a high level and get a win for ’em and we was able to do that for our home fans tonight.”
Anthony Davis also reflected on the home crowd and said they would need that same type of energy for Game 4 on Monday:
“It was fun. Like I said, the crowd definitely got us going,” Davis said. “We came out with a mindset of pace, energy. Score four straight and then crowd started getting really loud. They was missing shots and every miss we were just getting out running. Fastbreak after fastbreak, taking the right shots, playing together, just having fun. Everybody was obviously animated, pumping the crowd up more and we just fed off the energy of the crowd.
“Like I said, they’ve been waiting for a long time to be in this situation, we’ve been waiting for a long time to have them in this situation and we’re gonna need them again on Monday.”
It’s the first time both James and Davis have gotten a chance to play a postseason game at home with a full crowd in attendance, and they did not disappoint. Game 4 will be a battle as the Grizzlies must be feeling the pressure, so hopefully the Lakers faithful come through again with a needed energy boost.
D’Angelo Russell fed off Lakers home crowd in Game 3
Like James and Davis, D’Angelo Russell also felt the electricity in the building for Game 3. Russell was coming off a poor shooting night in Game 2, but it looked like being back in front of the purple and gold fans helped him bounce back and contribute to the crucial win.
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