The seven seed Los Angeles Lakers took home court away from the two seed Memphis Grizzlies is Game 1 from FedEx Forum on Sunday afternoon. Rui Hachimura led the Lakers with 29 points off the bench in the 128-112 victory.
Lakers stay hot
The Lakers came into the playoffs as the hottest team in the league winning 10 of their last 12 including the Play-In game against Minnesota and came into the opening round as many peoples favorites in the series.
They got out to a much better start to the game against the Grizzlies then they did against the T’Wolves in the Play-In Game on Tuesday. Anthony Davis got LA going doing a little bit of everything in the opening quarter. He had 8 points, and two blocks to help the Lakers build a 10 point advantage in the first 10 minutes of the game.
The Grizzlies clawed back after going down double digits thanks to Jaren Jackson Jr. who could not be stopped all night long. The battle between him and Davis almost came to an abrupt halt after Davis went to the locker room after suffering a shoulder injury. He was seen telling the bench he couldn’t move his right arm while heading off the court but would come back to the game in the second half with the Lakers down six.
Ja injured wrist, didn’t return
Jackson ended the game with 31 points, but the Lakers would heat up from downtown after the break, especially Rui Hachimura. In his opening playoff game with the Lakers he drilled four threes in the third quarter to give the Lakers the lead back heading into the fourth quarter.
LeBron had a relatively quiet game, but hit some big threes in the final 12 minutes. The Grizzlies were hanging with the Lakers until Ja Morant was involved in a collision with Anthony Davis, and landed on his right hand with under six minutes to go in the game. He went running to the locker room and wouldn’t come back.
Game 2 on Wednesdayfrom Memphis
The Lakers would take command after the Grizzlies super star left the court, and would end the game on a 15-0 run. Austin Reaves was a big part of that run, scoring 9 straight Lakers points in a 14 point fourth quarter and finished the game with 23 points in his playoff debut.
The Lakers took Game 1 and will look to steal another one before heading to LA for Game 3. For the Grizzlies, the focus will shift on Ja Morant and that injured right wrist as they look to even up the series before hitting the road. X-rays after the game came back negative, but the Grizzlies say he is in serious jeopardy of missing Game 2 on Wednesday.
