Lakers News: Rui Hachimura Bemoans "Dirty" Game 3 Attacks From Grizzlies

We see no lies.

Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers got off to a historically great start at home in the third game of their ongoing best-of-seven first round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, and held on for a wire-to-wire 111-101 victory to take a 2-1 overall lead.

The feat becomes all the more impressive when you factor in the reality that LA had to battle through, frankly, dirty defensive coverage courtesy of a Grizzlies team that seemed backed into a corner early, which starting shooting guard Austin Reaves previously detailed.

According to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, bench power forward Rui Hachimura also felt like Memphis was playing fast and loose with the official rules of defensive engagement in a professional NBA game.

Late in the third period, Hachimura was fouled from behind on a drive, once by John Konchar and then by David Roddy. That's dangerous and uncalled-for behavior when someone's running downhill with a full head of steam.

Lakers-Grizzlies getting chippy 😳 pic.twitter.com/20seZay132

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 23, 2023

“I think I was on the [fast] break and I got pushed from behind from the guy and after I was off-balanced and I also got pulled from the other guy so obviously I got mad,” Hachimura said. “They do dirty stuff like that. You got to be careful. You got to let them know we just can’t let them do that. So, that’s why I told him, ‘You can’t do that, you know? Of course you can be physical, but you can’t do dirty stuff. That’s going to cause an injury and stuff.’”

Ultimately, after their minor fracas concluded, Hachimura didn't let it distract him too much, finishing 16 points while shooting 6-for-10 from the field, plus five boards.

Hachimura reflected on how it felt to play against a wholly energized LA home crowd, the first sold-out audience the Lakers have enjoyed at Crypto.com Arena/Staples Center in a decade.

“I loved it,” Hachimura said. “Even today, we had a shootaround and we were talking about it was the first time since 2013 [that the Lakers had full capacity for the playoffs]. It’s crazy. I was so excited for it. I just didn’t know about it. I heard about it... I knew it was going to be crazy tonight. Yeah, the crowd was crazy tonight and our energy was good. I loved it.”

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