MEMPHIS, Tenn. — If there is anything more punishing than one of Ja Morant’s lightning drives in the paint or one of Jaren Jackson Jr.’s rejections at the rim, it might just be this year’s Western Conference pack, stubbornly refusing to yield ground to the scuffling Lakers.
If Tuesday night is any indication, the rest of that road – much of which will they will have to navigate without injured LeBron James – is going to be rocky at best.
Against the hard-nosed Grizzlies, the Lakers lacked coordination and leadership on offense, two of the key things that James provides. And while a scrappy defensive effort helped keep them neck-and-neck with Memphis for 2½ quarters, the makeshift dam broke in a 47-point third led by the relentless strides of Morant, who scored 28 of his 39 points in the period and finished with 10 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple-double.
The Lakers (29-33) wound up with a 121-109 loss to a team they’ll have to face again at home in a week. The Grizzlies (37-23) are a stiff challenge, but few if any games will be easy during the indefinite stretch the Lakers have to play without James for the next few weeks.
The most glaring problem was the Lakers’ 26 turnovers, which Memphis ruthlessly converted into 41 points. The Lakers rarely looked on the same page offensively, throwing the ball to sidelines of empty space and shouting at each other. It was always going to be a challenge to blend a team with six new players acquired since mid-January – it’s harder without James or injured point guard D’Angelo Russell, who missed his second straight game and is expected to miss at least one more.
The Lakers did get a big two-way effort out of Anthony Davis, who had 28 points, 19 rebounds and five blocked shots to glue together what was looking like a strong defensive team effort. The Lakers had held the Grizzlies to just 33% shooting through the first half, leading by three points.
But Morant found another gear after the break,…
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