After the Los Angeles Lakers Game 1 win, things didn’t look good for the Memphis Grizzlies. The team was already without center Steven Adams and now superstar Ja Morant was out for the Grizzlies Game 2 NBA playoffs matchup. But the Grizzlies punked the Lakers on Wednesday night and won the game 103-93. Here’s how they did it to even the Grizzlies-Lakers series.
Defense and rebounding
The anatomy of any upset — and with the Grizzlies' injuries this was an upset, despite the teams’ seeds — starts with defense and rebounding. And defense and rebounding are about effort and toughness, and Memphis showed they have more of that in Game 2.
In this game, the Grizzlies forced the Lakers into 10 turnovers, with five of those turnovers coming in the first quarter. The home team used those turnovers to go on an early 22-8 run to take a 30-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.
With a double-digit lead after one quarter, the Grizzlies never looked back.
Despite being without their center and leading rebounder on the season, Steven Adams, the Grizzlies controlled the boards and outrebounded the Lakers 49-47 on the night. Controlling the glass also limited what Lakers big man Anthony Davis did in this game, and the team held him to just 13 points.
These aren’t the “Grit and Grind” Grizzlies of a few years ago that only had defense and rebounding as their calling card, but on a night without Ja Morant, the team channeled that history and out-toughed the Lakers to get the win.
Battle of the role players
They say role players win games at home, and stars win games on the road in the NBA playoffs, but in Grizzlies-Lakers Game 1, it was the Lakers winning the battle of the role players to get the W.
In that first matchup, Austin Reaves had 23 points, D’Angelo Russell had 19, and Rui Hachimura led all scorers with 29. On the other side, Xavier Tillman scored just two points, while the Grizzlies bench had 24 points total.
In the Grizzlies Game 2 matchup with the Lakers, the home team flipped this dynamic on its head.
With better team defense this game, the Grizzlies held Russell to five points and Austin Reaves to 12. And while Hachimura had another excellent performance, he was only able to get 20 points on Wednesday, not 29. Outside of Hachimura’s scoring, the Lakers only got seven additional bench points.
On the Memphis side, Tillman had a monster game, dropping 22 points to go with his 13 rebounds. Bench players Luke Kennard and rookie David Roddy combined for 22 points, including going 6-of-11 from 3-point range. The bench again provided 24 points overall, but 10 of those came in the early 22-8 run, which helped put the game out of reach.
The Grizzlies also got great scoring distribution among its other starters. Jaren Jackson Jr. had 18, Dillon Brooks got 12, Tyus Jones put up 10, and Desmond Bane added 17. That’s exactly what the team needed with Ja Morant on the bench.
James tried to carry the Lakers to a comeback, but his 28 points couldn’t close the gap while he was getting so little help from Davis and company.
The Grizzlies got in the Lakers’ heads
Last but not least, the Grizzlies showed they were more mentally tough on the night in addition to being more physically tough.
The story of the night is the Grizzlies Game 2 win to even the Grizzlies-Lakers NBA playoff series at one game apiece. However, the highlight of the night is Dillon Brooks chirping in LeBron James’ face as the game got out of hand in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Brooks didn’t mince words and took a clear shot a LeBron and the Lakers.
“I don't care. He's old. You know what I mean? I was waiting for that. I was expecting him to do that Game 4, Game 5,” Brooks told reporters about James after the game (h/t ESPN). “He wanted to say something when I got my fourth foul. He should have been saying that earlier on. But I poke bears. I don't respect no one until they come and give me 40.”
Brooks did admit James is “a legend” but also noted LeBron is “just another basketball player,” and, “He's not at the same level that he was when he was on Cleveland winning championships, Miami.”
This shot at the Lakers superstar shows that the Grizzlies' brash young nucleus is not afraid of the great LeBron James in any way, and they proved that on and off the court in the Grizzlies Game 2 victory.
If Morant can come back and play at his normal high level in LA, his team has a real shot at taking this Grizzlies-Lakers series, especially if the team can keep doing what they did to punk the Lakers in Game 2.
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