After one playoff game we are getting way ahead of ourselves but the Lakers looked really good against one of the top teams in the league, the Memphis Grizzlies. It was a close game 1 but the Lakers pulled away at the end after Ja Morant injured his wrist to win 128-112. Can this Lakers team beat the Grizzlies in round 1 and make a run to the NBA Finals?
Game 1 was a dominant performance, not from Lebron, but from Anthony Davis Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura. Davis had seven blocks in the game and three steals while Reaves shot 8-13 from the field, and Hachimura had a team-high 29 points. Lebron still did his thing in other areas as he grabbed 11 rebounds and had five combined blocks and steals. The biggest takeaway here though is that Lebron doesn’t have to score 40, or even more than 21, to get a win against a good team in the playoffs.
If Ja Morant does miss at least one game and the Lakers can take another game on the road in Memphis, it is a great sign for Los Angeles. In round two the Lakers would then face either the Kings or the Warriors, which are winnable matchups again. After that may be the toughest challenge, if they can get that far likely against either Phoenix or Denver.
Can this Lakers team get it done?
Photo Credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_Lakers_logo.svg
