Kyle Kuzma always wants the ball in his hands during big moments. The Lakers let him deliver in Memphis.
The rookie scored a team-high 25 points — including 15 in the fourth quarter alone — and hit big shot after big shot in the final minutes of a 100-93 win over the Grizzlies.
When the Lakers’ lead was trimmed to four with about 45 seconds left, Kuzma petitioned coach Luke Walton to give him the rock.
“He always asks for shots, that’s nothing new,” Walton laughed.
When the shot clock began winding down on that possession, Kuzma decided to back up and isolate his man before stepping into a pull-up 3-pointer, which he drained, icing the game for the Lakers (32-40).
“He did a hell of a job making a big-time bucket for us,” Walton said. “We were going to him down the stretch.”
It wasn’t always so successful against a Memphis team that has now lost 23 of its last 24 games.
After getting trounced by 61 in their previous outing, the Grizzlies (19-54) came out of the gates motivated, bursting to a 27-10 lead.
The Lakers — with a thin rotation due to injuries to Brandon Ingram, Isaiah Thomas, Josh Hart and Channing Frye — spent most of the game playing catch-up.
“No one gets beat by 61 and then come out and plays flat the next game,” said Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who had 18 points. “I hope not. But we knew they were going to come out with great energy and we had to match it. The first half we didn’t do that.”
Fortunately for L.A., three players showed their versatility with double-doubles, including Kuzma, who had 10 rebounds.
Julius Randle started slow, but eventually got back to his physical ways, finishing with 20 points and 11 boards. Lonzo Ball flirted with a triple-double, doing everything for the Lakers with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Their defense also locked down, holding Memphis to 27.3 percent shooting in the second half (12-of-44).
“Our defense and our shell was tighter and we gave up (36) points (in the second half),” Randle said. “It’s the same formula all year. We defend and we win games.”
Meanwhile, Kuzma was the x-factor, hitting five of his six fourth-quarter shots.
The Lakers were down by two with about 8:30 left when Kuzma began his onslaught by spotting up for a 3-pointer on a beautiful pass from Ball.
He then proceeded to cement the Lakers’ lead for good by pulling up for a transition mid-range bucket and adding a pick-and-roll layup with a hook-ish finish.
And when L.A.’s edge was shrunk to just one with four minutes remaining, Kuzma was there with another big bucket, driving to the rim for an and-1 layup. He later provided the dagger with his pull-up trey.
“Kuz was great down the stretch, kind of putting us on his back and making winning plays when we were stalling out on offense,” Walton said.
Notes
Memphis was led by Andrew Harrison (20 points) and JaMychal Green (17 points, 16 rebounds). … The Grizzlies shot just 5-of-29 on 3-pointers. … A crowd of 18,1119 sold out FedExForum.