All Lakers Expert Predictions For Friday's LA-Memphis Game 6

Is tonight a must-win?

Your Los Angeles Lakers could send Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and the rest of those pesky young Memphis Grizzlies home packing with a Game 6 victory tonight. 

If LA does beat Memphis at Crypto.com Arena, it will move on to face off against the winner of the West's other lingering first round matchup, the Sacramento Kings' matchup with the Golden State Warriors, which Golden State leads 3-2.

What do we think will happen, you ask? Read on, friends.

How many more foul shots will LA be gifted than Memphis?

As probably the NBA's premiere franchise, featuring probably its premiere star (even in his dotage), the Lakers have gotten the benefit of referees' foul calls all season. In this playoff series, Los Angeles and Memphis actually had identical free throw totals through the first two games (both in Memphis), but LA has averaged 6.7 more foul shots across the ensuing three games. Given the stakes here, I'll say Los Angeles draws ten more free throws.

Will Malik Beasley ever show up in this series (i.e. tonight)?

The Lakers' sharpshooting reserve swingman has done very little to help his team thus far, which does not bode well for his future with the club. Los Angeles currently holds a $16.5 million team option on Beasley for the 2023-2024 season. He's averaging a scant 3.2 points on .278/.267/1.000 shooting splits across 11.4 minutes a night, a far cry from his averages of 11.1 points on .392/.353/.619 shooting splits across 26 regular season games with the Lakers. Part of that dip in production could be correlated with his massive reduction in minutes (he averaged 23.9 for LA in the regular season). I am dubious he'll do much to help Los Angeles. The team certainly shouldn't count on him to.

If tonight's truly a "must-win" game for the Lakers, can Los Angeles wrap this up?

The Lakers certainly will have the personnel (and probably the favorable officiating) to finish up this series. I think they'll be able to do it, but I worry that LA will struggle to shoot, especially late, and will notch a victory below the game's expected 4.5-point spread.

The fun starts at 7:30 p.m on ESPN.

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