LOS ANGELES — For the Lakers, this homestand is supposed to be about righting the ship.
Consider there more work to be done after Friday night’s 127-113 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, their fourth consecutive defeat and their 10th in the last 13 games.
“I don’t know,” LeBron James responded when asked whether the cracks from this skid were showing during their 12-4 run (including the In-Season Tournament championship win) from Nov. 10-Dec. 9. “I’m not thinking too far in the past, to be honest. I mean, we just suck right now.”
The effort was present. So was the improved shotmaking and ball security after Wednesday’s sloppy loss to the Miami Heat.
But the defensive stops weren’t.
The Grizzlies (12-23) buried the Lakers (17-19) with 3-pointers, shooting 23 for 45 from behind the arc – the most 3-pointers Memphis has made in a game and the most a Laker opponent has converted this season.
“They shot the hell out of the ball,” coach Darvin Ham said. “Some guys that came in with lower percentages from the whole team to certain individuals and they knocked them down. It seems to be the pattern of people stepping their game up when they come in our building.”
It also continued the Lakers’ troubling trend of defending shots from the perimeter. Laker opponents shot 40.8% on shots from behind the arc over the previous 12 games entering Friday.
“We got to be ready force with force,” Ham said. “I thought for the most part, I saw a lot of improvement from last game. Coming into halftime with only four turnovers for no points. But, again, third quarter, certain balls got away from us and a team like that they are getting back whole. They were able to take advantage of some opportunities. And so, a couple of guys got scorching hot.
“But that said, I’m in this thing for the fight and I’m not about to hang my head or anything. I’m disappointed we lost, disappointed that we have lost multiple games now in a row. But it’s just only going to make the fire bigger in my chest to try to figure this thing out, and that was my message to the team after the game. It was a much better performance and obviously it stings, but that irritation should cause you to want to better and be better and we will.”
Even with James (32 points, seven assists, five rebounds, five steals) and Anthony Davis (31 points, six rebounds, four assists) combining for 63 points, and the Lakers scoring 23 points off Memphis’ 19 turnovers, the Grizzlies’ firepower was too much for the Lakers to keep up with.
Memphis outscored the Lakers 33-19 in the fourth after the teams had played to a 94-all draw through three quarters.
Every team it looked like the Lakers were going to go on a run, the Grizzlies answered with a 3-pointer. Or a play in transition that deflated all of the Lakers’ momentum.
“We gotta do better as players to affect them to miss shots,” Austin Reaves said. “They shot 51% from 30 [Friday], that’s not acceptable. And we have to take it upon ourselves to do better.”
The Grizzlies, who are 6-4 since the return of All-Star guard Ja Morant on Dec. 26, were led by Jaren Jackson Jr.’s 33 points (5 for 6 from 3-point range), nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Desmond Bane had 24 points (5 for 8 from deep), 13 assists and five rebounds while Marcus Smart had 29 points (8 for 14 from 3-point range) and five assists. Morant had 21 points (3 for 7 from deep) and seven assists, and Ziaire Williams added 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies pulled away.
Reaves had 19 points and a career-high 12 assists to go with seven rebounds. Christian Wood added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.
During the third quarter, Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins got a technical foul for stepping onto the court during play to argue about a no-call during a loose ball scramble between James and Jackson.
Jenkins impeded Taurean Prince leading the Lakers’ fast break the other way and then fought aggressively to get past his assistants as they held him back from the officials, but Jenkins somehow wasn’t ejected.
The Lakers played without two regulars and frequent starters: D’Angelo Russell missed his third straight game with a bruised tailbone, and Rui Hachimura missed his second in a row with a strained left calf.
James hit four 3-pointers without a miss in the first quarter, scoring 14 points. The Grizzlies erased the Lakers’ lead before halftime with nine 3-pointers – including five from Smart, who had missed 16 consecutive 3-point attempts over the past five games before hitting his second try against the Lakers.
“It is what it is…end of the day, they’re NBA players,” James said. “They work on their craft. It seems to happen a lot vs us, where the percentages go the other way. We had our game plan and how we wanted to execute that, and I thought we did that as well as we could. And they made us pay.”
The Lakers will face off against the red-hot Clippers on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“It’s been a tough stretch for us,” Davis said. “We still have a lot of basketball left. But we’re trending in the wrong direction right now. And the last thing we need, especially when guys are out, is to separate and fall apart. So we gotta stay together, for sure, and figure it out.
“We can’t be in our feelings. We can’t be complaining or whatever. We have to look individually, myself, everyone in the locker room, the coaching staff, look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do individually better to help the team be better. And I think then we can come out and flip things around. And it doesn’t have to be anything substantial. But it has to come from within.”