In recent days, the Lakers have gotten into the habit of building a solid lead, only to falter at some point in the second half and either lose or at least let a game go down to the wire. On Saturday against the Memphis Grizzlies, they were in danger of suffering yet another loss in the same fashion.
They went up 50-30 early in the second quarter and led 72-61 at halftime, but they gave up 38 points in the third quarter, which resulted in their lead almost completely evaporating. Six unanswered points by Memphis early in the fourth quarter gave it a 111-107 lead, and the Lakers were clearly in trouble.
But instead of collapsing again like a freeway during a big earthquake, the Lakers withstood the onslaught. They went on an 11-2 run to rebuild a five-point lead, and down the stretch, they remained locked in. They consistently got scores and even got stops and rebounds when they needed to, and the result was a big 134-127 victory.
The Lakers badly needed this victory. They came into this game with the same 44-29 record the Grizzlies had, but now, they sit in fourth place in the Western Conference, one full game ahead of the fifth-place Grizzlies. They're 1.5 games behind the third-place Denver Nuggets and three games behind the second-place Houston Rockets. Los Angeles will play the Rockets at home on Monday in another contest that will carry heavy playoff implications.
Rui Hachimura: B
Hachimura returned to the starting lineup after sitting out Thursday's game against the Chicago Bulls. He hit five of his eight shot attempts and three of his five 3-point attempts to score 13 points, and he also added three rebounds and one block in 28 minutes.
Jaxson Hayes: C
Hayes didn't take or make his first shot or score his first points until Luka Doncic set him up for an alley-oop dunk with 3:39 left in the fourth quarter. That basket would account for his only points of the game.
He did grab five rebounds and block one shot in 17 minutes of playing time.
Austin Reaves: A
Reaves not only led the Lakers in scoring with 31 points, but as he has quite often, he was clutch in this game. He had nine points in the fourth quarter, with seven of them coming in the final 2:48 of the game. His three-point play with 1:21 left boosted L.A.'s lead to nine and greatly diminished the chances that the team would collapse once again.
The guard also dished off eight assists and had seven rebounds, two steals and one block.
Luka Doncic: A-minus
This wasn't an extremely efficient game for Doncic, as he shot 8-of-18 overall and 2-of-9 from 3-point range. But he finished with 29 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and he did a good job of drawing fouls, which resulted in him making 11 of his 12 free throw attempts.
LeBron James: A-minus/A
For the first time since he returned from a groin injury a week ago, James looked close to his usual self. He shot 10-of-21 overall and made two of his five attempts from beyond the arc to score 25 points, and he also contributed eight assists, six rebounds, three steals and one block.
James even took two charges in this game. At one point, he drew an offensive foul on Zach Edey, the Grizzlies' massive 7-foot-4, 305-pound rookie center.
Gabe Vincent: A
Vincent was a ...
