The Memphis Grizzlies faced the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday evening (1/3/21) and put up a great fight. With both teams missing key players due to injuries (Grizzlies missing Morant and Jackson, Lakers missing Caruso and Pope), there were many speculations as to which team would take the win. The two teams fell into close quarters Sunday evening, but despite their shortcomings, the Lakers persevered with a victory of 108-94.
Lebron James has been quoted (in the past) saying, “Commitment is a big part of what I am and what I believe. How committed are you to winning?” When discussing a game, the character and posture of the players are key. Commitment is perseverance because the player must be committed to continuing to grind and work their hardest as if it were their last day with a basketball. Both teams persevered in Sunday night’s game, and that is why perseverance is the name of the game.
The Grizzlies did not allow for the absence of a key player (and NBA rookie of the year) to take away from all the hard work they have been putting in. With Morant out, Memphis has been forced to pass the ball around more, and both Kyle Anderson and Dillon Brooks led the Grizzlies to playing hard against the 2020 NBA Champions. There was a 20 point turnaround within the first quarter when the Los Angeles Lakers were up by nine but trailed by eleven, leaving the first quarter with the score of 25-36 Grizzlies.
The first half of the second quarter was full of three pointers for the Memphis Grizzlies. Five different players had made three pointers at the beginning of the second quarter alone. Tyus Jones led the team with 10 points, and Dillon Brooks right behind him with nine points, three rebounds, and four assists. Dillon Brooks played with a high level of intensity the entire half, which sparked and motivated the others to give maximum effort on both offense and defense. Lakers star, Anthony Davis, seemed to be sleeping up until the 6:23 mark when he finally made his first shot of the evening in free throws. With Davis struggling to score, bench player Montrezl Harrell stepped up and made key contributions putting up eight points, five rebounds, along with two steals, showing his value on both ends of the court. By the end of the second quarter, the Lakers had picked themselves up while the Grizzlies continued to hang in with the defending champions but tailed them 56-54 at half time. What mindset drove the Lakers to the lead at halftime? A lot of urgency, perseverance, and the LBJ attitude of “If I can play, I will play.”
At the start of the third quarter, the Grizzlies were back on top 58-56. Anthony Davis was two for ten with eight minutes left in the third quarter but began to make a comeback with hustle and defense plays. With that said, the Lakers standout guy of the night was Montrezl Harrell, with the highest leading score and second-most rebounds for the Lakers at this point in the game. The Lakers’ superstar duo seemed to struggle to score into the third quarter. Therefore the other Lakers had the “next man up mentality” and picked up any slack to secure the victory. With less than one minute remaining, the Grizzlies and Lakers were tied at 73, but by the end of the third quarter, the Lakers concluded the same way they did at halftime ahead by two for a score of 77-75.
With nine minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, the Lakers were up 82-79. King James picked up more points, even a three from the logo, while AD had 13 points and five rebounds with 5:52 remaining. The two superstars picked themselves back up, and despite Lebron’s struggles, he persevered and came to life down the stretch in the fourth quarter, completely taking over the game with 22 points along with eight assists and 13 rebounds, smashing it all. The Los Angeles Lakers pulled through and outscored the Grizzlies by 12 points by the end of the fourth quarter ending the night with a score of 108-94.
The 2020 Champions are now 5-2 thus far this season, and you can catch them facing the Grizzlies again Tuesday at 7 PM Central Time at FedExForum in Memphis.
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