The Lakers (13-13) came off a big win over their rival Boston Celtics on Tuesday night but ran into a red-hot Memphis Grizzlies (15-11) squad, even without their star in the form of Ja Morant. The Grizzlies ramped it up in the second half and ran away with a game, beating the Lakers 108-95.
The bright spot in Thursday’s game, came with about five minutes left in the fourth quarter when LeBron James made a sweet bounce pass to a cutting Anthony Davis for the layup. While the bucket didn’t have any impact in the score line, it did give LeBron his 10th assist of the night and career triple-double No. 100.
King James is currently fifth in NBA history and is now eight triple-doubles shy of overtaking Jason Kidd. Russell Westbrook is at the top of the all-time list with 189 triple-doubles.
James would finish the night with 11 assists to with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while also adding four steals and two blocks.
AD scored 22 points (his 15th game this season with at least 20 points) and eight rebounds as well as a tally in each of the assists, blocks and steals categories.
Russell Westbrook produced a relatively solid evening, finishing with nine points, seven rebounds and six assists to go with a block, but failed to score double-digit points for the second time this season.
Avery Bradley and Talen Horton-Tucker each added 10 points apiece as starters, while the Laker bench had a quiet night with no player finishing with more than seven points (Carmelo Anthony).
The Lakers looked strong and lively to start the game but despite a carryover from their last game against the Celtics, Frank Vogel felt there was “too much of a casualness” to the Lakers approach the rest of the way.
“The second quarter was where the energy of the game shifted,” Vogel said. “Our turnovers went way up, we didn’t rebound the basketball, we were slow at every loose ball. We got an early lead and we got too casual.”
Turnovers ended up being the biggest difference in the game as the Lakers accounted for 22 of them and allowed Memphis to score 27 points off the TOs.
“We’re going to continue to have disappointing losses as long as we’re turning the ball over like that,” Vogel said.
The Lake Show will have an immediate opportunity to shake off the tough loss as they head to Oklahoma City for the second half of the back-to-back tomorrow night.