Lakers Tie Playoff Record During Game 3 Win Over Grizzlies

LA leads the series 2-1.

Last night, your Los Angeles Lakers turned in a convincing 111-101 home win over the higher-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, during which LA led wire-to-wire. 

Things started off as well as they possibly could. With Lakers starters Anthony Davis, LeBron James and D'Angelo Russell leading the way (notching eight points a piece in the opening frame), Los Angeles outscored Memphis 35-9 in the quarter.

According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN, that 26-point advantage for LA ties it with the best-ever first quarter in the entire history of the NBA playoffs.

Starting around the midway point of the bout's second quarter, Memphis clawed its way back somewhat. In the fourth frame alone, Grizzlies All-Star point guard Ja Morant scored 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting (4-of-6 from deep) to will his team to within 10 points late, but that was as close as the Grizz got. Los Angeles was able to coast off its dominant first quarter with solid two-way play from its two Hall of Famers (James and Davis) the rest of the way, great defense from Jarred Vanderbilt, and solid scoring from role players Russell, Rui Hachimura, and Austin Reaves.

Thanks to Davis' 31-point, 17-rebound, three-block night, he's made some history of his own, per NBA History. Since blocks started being tabulated as a stat in 1973 (i.e. after Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlin, had already retired), only three other players have logged 65 or more points, 35 or more rebounds and 15 or more blocks across their first three playoff games during a postseason: San Antonio Spurs Hall of Fame power forward/center Tim Duncan, Houston Rockets Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, and of course the Lakers' own Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Not bad company to keep.

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