The Los Angeles Lakers will look to move to 2-0 on their four-game road trip and win their seventh consecutive game when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Lakers have now played four consecutive games without Avery Bradley as he recovers from a hairline fracture and the result of him not being there has been very clear.
In the four games since Bradley went down, the Lakers have had the fourth-highest offensive rating, bringing them from a middle of the pack team all the way to sixth. However, the defense has slipped considerably. They have the 16th ranked defense the past four games and it has dropped the Lakers from first to fourth on the season.
Hopefully, Los Angeles can right the ship defensively against a team that doesn’t really do anything well. The Grizzlies rank 27th in offensive rating, 23rd in defensive rating, and 28th in net rating. They’re middle of the road shooting the ball but are bottom seven in three-point percentage.
One of the Grizzlies only positive attributes is they are fourth in the NBA in assists per game led by Ja Morant, who’s averaging 18.5 points and 6.0 assists per game in his rookie season. However, this is offset by the fact they are bottom five in the league in turnovers.
After their first win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Anthony Davis urged the Lakers to improve defensively and while they did win the second game as well, they gave up 127 points.
The Grizzlies are coming off a horrible loss, a 19-point beat down at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. They’ll likely be motivated to play well after such a dismal performance, and the Lakers will need to be prepared for the Grizzlies best shot.
The Lakers will again be without Bradley while the Grizzlies will only be without Grayson Allen.
This is the second matchup between these two teams and the first did not go so well for the Grizzlies in Los Angeles. The Lakers won by 29 points and Davis absolutely had his way with their defense, scoring 40 points while adding 20 rebounds.
The ideal situation is that Davis can dominate again and give LeBron James a night off from his dominance as the latter seemingly does a new record-setting thing every night.
This is another game the Lakers should have no problem winning. As always, they’ll have to show up and play their style of basketball, so there shouldn’t be any issues.
Los Angeles Lakers (13-2) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (5-9)
5:00 P.M. PT, Nov. 23, 2019
FedEx Forum, Memphis, Tennessee
TV: Spectrum SportsNet
Radio: 710 AM (ESPN), 1330 KWKW (Spanish)
Projected Lakers Starting Lineup:
PG: LeBron James
SG: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
SF: Danny Green
PF: Anthony Davis
C: JaVale McGee
Key Reserves: Kyle Kuzma, Dwight Howard, Rajon Rondo, Quinn Cook
Projected Grizzlies Starting Lineup:
PG: Ja Morant
SG: Dillon Brooks
SF: Jae Crowder
PF: Jaren Jackson Jr.
C: Jonas Valanciunas
Key Reserves: Brandon Clarke, Solomon Hill, Kyle Anderson, Tyus Jones