The Los Angeles Lakers' hopes of sending their road bout with the Memphis Grizzlies to overtime were thwarted on their disastrous final offensive possession.
With just over 20 seconds remaining and Los Angeles down by three, Ja Morant cut off a pass from Malik Monk to Russell Westbrook, forcing Monk to throw it back to LeBron. LeBron stumbled and took a few dribbles, then looked for Westbrook, who made a subtle movement towards the baseline.
Inconveniently, Russ halted his cut and retreated to the 3-point line — presumably, because of the scoreboard, though the Lakers didn't need a triple — and LeBron was stuck. He tossed a pass to nobody in particular, which ended up in the hands of the Grizzlies. Ballgame.
So in watching this a few times now, IMO, Monk doesn't look off Russ so much as Ja plays that pass incredibly. He closes out to Monk's right and then jumps into the passing lane when Monk might've made the pass. pic.twitter.com/cMbZSqxGIc
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) December 30, 2021
“Looked like Russ was gonna go back door at one point, then he backed back out and I was already in the air,” a solemn LeBron James recalled. “I had slipped before on my drive, which kind of threw my rhythm off.”
It was the Lakers' 18th turnover of the evening and LeBron's fifth. Entering Wednesday, the Lakers ranked 28th in basketball in turnovers per game (15.9). Westbrook had five giveaways, as well.
“There's a difference between careless turnovers and attack turnovers,” LeBron explained. “We gotta cut down on our careless turnovers — the ones that's just unforced. We're gonna have attack turnovers, which is OK. We have a lot of attackers and we understand that. But, the careless turnovers, where, literally, you just turn the ball over and there's no pressure or there's no reason for it, those are the ones that get us in trouble.”
It was a far cry from the two-man chemistry James and Westbrook displayed in the final minutes of the Lakers' win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
The Lakers now sit at 17-19 as James turns 37 on Thursday. They'll head home to face the Portland Trail Blazers on New Year's Eve.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5c6tXfQrG0wOUKZ4v7F8Bc?si=5b24ac70584a47c0
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