The Lakers lost 105-98 to an injury-ravaged Memphis Grizzlies side on Thursday night.
Another day, another Lakers’ loss. It seemed like the tide was turning after an impressive win over the Celtics but things once again went downhill. They lost to the Memphis Grizzlies by a final score of 105-98. A Memphis team missing most of their team including four starters. Ja Morant, Kyle Anderson, Brandon Clarke, and Zaire Williams, as well as Dillon Brooks. There was no excuse for the Lakers not to win convincingly. Instead, the Lakers allowed themselves to be out-hustled and out-rebounded all night. They committed twice the amount of turnovers as the Grizzlies, 22 to 11. They also allowed Memphis to have twice as many offensive rebounds as the Lakers, 14-7. Those kinds of stats are exactly how you lose a basketball game.
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In keeping with their performances this season, the Lakers were disappointing on defense. The inability to defend the perimeter has been a problem for the Lakers all season and it continues here. Anthony Davis was once again unable to assert his dominance when he needed to. But he isn’t the only problem. Allowing turnovers and offensive rebounds leads to results like this. If the team have real title aspirations, this terrible defending and constant turnovers need to end. A lot of players are underperforming and it has become hard to single out players.
Aside from a brief third-quarter run to get back into the game the Lakers looked completely disinterested. Memphis did their bit, fought for every ball and contested every shot. Absolutely deserved their win. The only positive statistic for them came from LeBron James. He recorded the 100th triple-double of his career with a 20-point, 10-rebound, 11-assist performance. Joining his current teammate Westbrook in the top five.
