Lakers tie franchise 3-point record, dominate Grizzlies for 2nd tourney win – Daily News

LOS ANGELES — After three weeks filled with nail-biting victories, tough defeats and blowout losses, the Lakers were due for a game like Tuesday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Their outside shots were falling early and often, helping them open a 37-26 lead at the end of the first quarter – their best lead of the season at the end of an opening period. The Lakers shot 6 for 11 from behind the arc – more 3-pointers than they made in all 48 minutes in Sunday’s victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Lakers’ 3-point barrage didn’t slow down: they made five more in the second quarter, six in the third and five in the fourth to tie a franchise record with 22 (on 35 attempts), leading to a 134-107 victory over the Grizzlies at Crypto.com Arena.

“The ball went in the basket,” Lakers guard Austin Reaves said. “That’s the pretty thing. You know? Any time you can shoot the three well, especially with [LeBron James] and [Anthony Davis] on the court, it allows them to be at their best just because they have space. And they have [the] opportunity to get downhill and play the two-man game with one another. Just making shots is a beautiful thing to see.”

D’Angelo Russell had 24 points and five assists and Davis had 19 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and six blocked shots to pace the Lakers. James had 16 points, nine rebounds and six assists while playing only 23 minutes as the Lakers (6-5) improved to 5-0 at home and 2-0 in the In-Season Tournament with their first comfortable victory of the season.

Russell hit six of the Lakers’ 22 3-pointers, and Reaves made four while scoring 16 points with 12 rebounds and seven assists. The other time the Lakers made 22 3-pointers came on Feb. 7, 2019, in Boston.

After experiencing repeated shooting struggles during the first 10 games of the season, the Lakers shot 58% against Memphis, including the 62.9% mark from 3-point range, while outrebounding the visitors 54-33.

“You don’t want to be that guy (struggling) when the team is shooting extremely well,” James said. “You want to chip in and be a part of it. Definitely a great shooting night for us tonight, and a good win for us.”

Coming into Tuesday, the Lakers’ largest leads of the season were: 14 in Sunday’s victory over the Blazers and 11 in an Oct. 30 home win against the Orlando Magic. But both of those games went down to the wire and resulted in single-digit wins.

Tuesday was different.

The Lakers took a commanding 58-40 lead midway through the second quarter after a Cam Reddish 3-pointer and didn’t let up from there. They led by at least 15 for the remainder of the game and by as much as 31 (103-72) late in the third and 107-86 at the end of the quarter to essentially make the fourth extended garbage time.

“Guys played with a lot of confidence, playing in rhythm,” Davis said. “Our passes were on target. Making the right reads. Passes weren’t late. And I think this is probably the first game where you can see we kind of just were having fun. Getting back to Laker basketball and when you’re having fun then the next guy trusts you and turns a good play to a great play or a good shot to a great shot, it shows that player, your teammate, has confidence in you. And we were able to line them up and knock them down. That was the biggest difference.”

Russell shot 8 for 12 overall and 6 for 8 from behind the arc in 27 minutes. He was one of seven Lakers who scored in double figures. With the game well in hand, neither Davis nor James – who returned after sitting out Sunday’s game because of a left calf contusion – played in the fourth quarter.

Rui Hachimura scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter for the Lakers, who hadn’t won a game by more than six points before this one. Reddish finished with 10 points while shooting 3 for 5 from 3-point range, and Jaxson Hayes (11 points) also made a significant contribution off the bench.