LOS ANGELES — If any NBA franchise historically exemplifies winning ugly, it’s the Memphis Grizzlies, who trademarked “Grit-N-Grind.”
But among NBA teams at the moment? The Lakers don’t care what path they have to take to get there.
There was some grit, some grind and, yes, even some blood on Tuesday night, dripping from the tip of Anthony Davis’ nose after a second-quarter foul. But the Lakers (32-34) churned out a 112-103 win, fueled by defense and the step-up heroics of Dennis Schröder, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura who each had 17 points.
Davis tied it together, as he has throughout a week’s worth of games without LeBron James or D’Angelo Russell. Behind his 30 points and a staggering 22 rebounds, the Lakers ascended to the Western Conference’s No. 9 seed, the highest perch they’ve had in the standings since starting the season 0-5. They improved to 7-3 since adding five new players after the trade deadline and won for the sixth time in their past eight games.
It took a gutsy stretch of defense: The Lakers held Memphis without a point for three crucial minutes, forcing five one-shot possessions ending with a defensive rebound. In addition to logging the eighth 30-20 game of his career on 11-for-17 shooting, Davis was central to the defensive effort (making up for seven of his own turnovers). After grabbing a rebound over Memphis’ rangy big man Jaren Jackson Jr., Davis dribbled down in transition to hit Hachimura at the rim.
Aside from Davis, Schröder was a key source of late offense, hitting a bank floater against Xavier Tillman, and a tear drop jumper off of a kickout from Reaves. He was also the team’s top playmaker with nine assists; Reaves had seven.
Hachimura had one of his better games as a Laker, inserted in the closing lineup for his physicality against a scrappy Memphis team as much as his fast-break speed.
The Lakers had to outlast 26 points from Jackson, as well as 16 points from point guard Tyus Jones. Desmond Bane,…
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