The Los Angeles Lakers went back out on the road on Friday night, taking on the Memphis Grizzlies in their penultimate regular season game.
The Lakers have both their stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis both in the lineup after dealing with illnesses while the Grizzlies had an ridiculous 13 players out. It wasn’t as easy as it should have been, the Lakers were able to hang on for a 123-120 victory to get their 46th win on the year.
Former Lakers guard Scotty Pippen Jr. got his team off to a quick start with a pair of layups although Austin Reaves responded with back-to-back triples to put L.A. up 10-7 early.
The young Grizzlies did a nice job keeping up with the Lakers in the first quarter, matching them basket for basket. With the game tied at 26 though, Davis led an 8-0 run to close the quarter to give the Lakers a 34-26 lead.
James went into attack mode to begin the second, throwing down a thunderous dunk and then earning a three-point play. After a 3-pointer by Taurean Prince, the Lakers led by double digits for the first time.
James and the Lakers got careless from there, however, and G.G. Jackson and the Grizzlies took advantage of some turnovers to get back within three.
Rui Hachimura had a nice response for the Lakers with back-to-back triples. Turnovers continued to be an issue for L.A. though as Memphis scored 38 points in the second quarter alone. The Lakers wound up going into the halftime locker room with a slim 68-64 lead.
The momentum stayed with the Grizzlies to begin the third quarter as the Lakers could not stop turning the ball over and seemed to be going through the motions. Meanwhile, Pippen and Jackson continued to connect from deep, giving the Grizzlies the lead.
Memphis actually built a lead up to nine before James and the Lakers started to turn it on. He connected from deep and then Davis made a few buckets inside, giving L.A. a 98-97 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The Lakers finally started to turn it on to begin the fourth as James and Gabe Vincent both hit triples and Davis made a layup.
Again though, despite the Lakers building their lead up to eight, the Grizzlies refused to go away. In fact, they took the lead back at 118-117 with a minute to play.
James had an answer for the Lakers with a scoop layup and then they were able to get a stop defensively. After James was fouled and made a pair at the line to put L.A. up three, they got another stop and LeBron capped it off with a dunk.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon when they take on the New Orleans Pelicans in a game that will officially decide their seeding in the Western Conference postseason.
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