The Lakers bullied the Grizzlies. (` Photo/Jae C Hong)
The Los Angeles Lakers have LeBron James. You have Anthony Davis. And, crucially, they have a real supporting cast.
After spending much of the regular season in a dysfunctional state, the Lakers were a complete team on Friday as they ended the Memphis Grizzlies in their first-round streak with a 125-85 Game 6 win. They will face off against the winner between the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors, who play a Game 7 on Sunday.
In contrast to their comically dominant performance in the first quarter in Game 3, the Lakers’ stomp against Memphis developed steadily this time, rising from an 11-point lead at the end of the first quarter to a 17-point lead at halftime to 33 points by the end end of the third. The bench pressers were used in the fourth game with nine minutes left.
The Grizzlies looked lost again on offense, but a lot of that was thanks to Davis. The Lakers big man had his best defensive play of the series, posting five blocks and leading a central defense that kept the Memphis starters at 25.7% shooting at 2-pointers.
AD with another SWAT 😤🚫 pic.twitter.com/kynCHWUPMM
— NBA-TV (@NBATV) April 29, 2023
Davis, who also had 16 points and 14 rebounds, was great. James, who had 22 points, six assists and five rebounds, was good in his usual way. However, what made the game an uncompetitive blowout was the supporting cast, which the Lakers reinforced by deadline day.
So much has been said about how different the Lakers have looked since swapping Russell Westbrook for roleplayers after going 17-9 after the trade deadline, and that difference was clear again on Friday, mostly in the form of 31 points at 12-of-17 shoot by D’Angelo Russell.
The Lakers make LA jump 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/DBFcLwq3DJ
— ESPN (@espn) April 29, 2023
So the Lakers have their two stars healthy and a good supporting cast that they haven’t had since winning the 2020 NBA Championship. This should not be welcome news for the West.
Meanwhile, the Grizzlies. What else is there to say?
The team that barked so much even in last postseason’s loss to the Warriors and entered the playoffs when the West No. 2 looked tired and muzzled. Yes, they were missing the perpetually underrated Steven Adams, but they had Ja Morant (10 points on 3-of-16 shooting) and Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. (14 points on 3-of-12 shooting) and, unfortunately the cohesion of a lottery team.
It’s been a difficult season with Morant’s reported extrajudicial violations and season-ending injuries at Adams and Brandon Clarke, but when it all ends like this, it’s a “look in the mirror” moment.
And in case you were curious, Dillon Brooks had 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting.
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