Memphis Grizzlies guards Ja Morant and Desmond Bane combined for 64 points, 20 rebounds and 12 assists in a 116-99 blowout of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday to force Game 6 of their first-round series. The second-seeded Grizzlies trail the seventh-seeded Lakers in the best-of-seven, 3-2.
Game 6 is scheduled for Friday night in Los Angeles at 10:30pm on ESPN.
Morant and Bane’s explosive effort spoiled the double-doubles of Los Angeles’ Anthony Davis (31 points, 19 rebounds), LeBron James (15 points, 10 rebounds) and D’Angelo Russell (11 points, 10 assists). Austin Reaves added 17 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists for the Lakers in the loss. By the end of the night, James looked exhausted, Reaves was limping on a bruised knee and Davis was slow to get up after falling on his tailbone.
“It’s our home floor, the home crowd and we feed off their energy,” Morant, who finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and just 2 turnovers in 38 minutes, told TNT’s Eli LaForce. “Every time we play in this building, they bring it to us every time and give us the energy we need to win.”
Energy is made up of mass and momentum; No one embodied that better in Game 5 than both Benn and Morant. Behind their backcourt, the Grizzlies jumped out against a Lakers team that likes to grind in the halfcourt, where Davis and company own the best defense in the West. Playoff Memphis took a 14-point, first-quarter lead to 56-39 inside the five-minute mark of the second quarter.
A Reaves 3-pointer and his no-look alley-oop to James capped an 8-0 run over the next two minutes, cutting the Lakers’ deficit to nine, and the margin held until halftime, when Memphis led 61-52.
Morant and Ben scored or assisted on 50 of Memphis’ 62 points at the break, combining for 39 points on 15-of-27 shooting and 5 assists through two quarters. Los Angeles’ backcourt had no answer.
Morant showed no ill effects from his bruised hand. He attacked the rim with his customary relentlessness, including a put-back dunk over Davis that epitomized Memphis’ push to win.
Davis had a double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds) at the half for the third time in his career, but James outpaced the young Grizzlies and entered the break with nearly as many turnovers (five) as points (six on 2). 9 FG). Reaves, Jared Vanderbilt and Rui Hachimura helped Davis keep the Lakers afloat.
Russell went on an 8-0 run to start the second half, cutting Memphis’ lead to 62-61, and the Lakers stayed within striking distance until the four-minute mark of the third quarter, when Reaves missed a 12-foot floater. It gave Los Angeles its first lead after the opening minute of the game.
Then, down fell to the Lakers. A Santee Aldama tip-in sparked a 26-2 response that put the Grizzlies up 101-76 with 10 minutes left in the game. Although Memphis went five minutes without a field goal midway through the final quarter, the Lakers never got back within single digits.
Late in the third quarter, when Morant had 25 points on the night, LaForce reported, “He spent the entire last period telling the athletic trainer that his right knee was bothering him when she pushed him, causing him to jump. She Looked him in the eye and said, ‘Can you go now?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’
The knee didn’t appear to slow Morant down. He stayed on the court until late in the fourth quarter, when he scored or assisted on eight straight Grizzlies points to halt the Lakers’ last hope of a comeback. After the game, Morant acknowledged some pain from “a lump” in his knee, but expected it to be fine in Game 6.
Grizzlies wing Luke Kennard left in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury and did not return. He called it “a stinger” following the game, telling reporters, “I’ll do whatever I can to make it right and play Friday.”
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