The Los Angeles Lakers Prove To Be Too Much For The Memphis Grizzlies On Second Game Of Road Trip

The Memphis Grizzlies entered their second game of a back to back and four-game road trip after losing to the Sacramento Kings only to be outmatched again against the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers would topple the Grizzlies 117-105 led by Lebron James with 32 points and Anthony Davis with 28 points 13 rebounds and 7 blocks. Josh Jackson would lead the Grizzlies with 20 points.

© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

The Memphis Grizzlies entered their second game of a back to back and four-game road trip after losing to the Sacramento Kings only to be outmatched again against the Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers would topple the Grizzlies 117-105 led by Lebron James with 32 points and Anthony Davis with 28 points 13 rebounds and 7 blocks. Josh Jackson would lead the Grizzlies with 20 points.

My Thoughts On The Game

The Grizzlies struggled early shooting from the field and would trial 28-22 after the first quarter before the Lakers would erupt in the second quarter to take a commanding 60-41 lead at the half.  The Grizzlies would show signs of life in the third quarter, including a 26-9 run to cut the lead to 84-77 heading into the fourth quarter.  They would eventually cut the lead to 5 in the fourth quarter but the Lakers would stretch the lead out fo the remainder of the game.

“Tough one," said Grizzlies Head Coach Taylor Jenkins in regards to the team's loss. "Give the Lakers a lot of credit. They came out and just kind of punked us in that first half. We weren’t ready to play in the first half. Proud of the guys to fight back, pick up our activity, win that third quarter, get some more of our solid basketball defensively and offensively, but there are areas we need to clean up. Giving up 40 free throws again, some of them make it tough on you, but they earned some of those free throws. There’s some that were careless on our part, but overall just not one of those games where we didn’t come to play. We have to learn from this and learn from it quick.” 

© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Jenkins On The Lakers Defense That Had 14 Blocks

“Obviously, we’re one of the league leaders in getting it into the paint, and I think [the Lakers] ended up with 14 blocks tonight," said Jenkins. "They make it tough. Some of those we’re trying to make a good play at the rim. Some are just we have to make a better decision to kick out to a shooter. They do a great job of collapsing the paint but it’s a strength of theirs. That’s why they’re one of the elite defenses in the league. As I say, this is great for us. Obviously, we want to win all these ball games but the fact that these guys are going to continue to learn and teams are going to continue to scheme how they’re going to take us away, how they’re going to take the paint away, we just have to be better in those situations. We’ll go back to watch the film and be ready for the next game.”

The Grizzlies (28-28) now prepare to face off against the Los Angeles Clippers (37-18) on Monday.