Victorious in Game 1 on Sunday evening, the Lakers had the chance to strike an even bigger blow three days later, going 2-0 after the first two away games. Obviously, the Grizzlies did not hear it that way and, even deprived of Ja Morant, they had the firm intention of equalizing before going to California to regain the advantage of the field.
It is in this context that Memphis logically imposed itself against Los Angeles at home (103-93), just to reset the counters to zero, or almost, before a change of scenery in this series. Despite a good LeBron James (28 points, 12 rebounds), the “Purple & Gold” failed to shine offensively, in addition to suffering the law of Xavier Tillman (22 points, 13 rebounds) and Jaren Jackson Jr. (18 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks) defensively, with Tyus Jones and Desmond Bane also punishing the California outside defense.
Nothing to be alarmed about, however, on the Lakers side, because the advantage of the field remains in their possession, even if this setback is a stain without Ja Morant, because the opportunity was good to lead 2-0 against the diminished Grizzlies.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
— Memphis has resources. This is one of the statistics that immediately appeared, once the absence of Ja Morant formalized: with Tyus Jones in charge, the Grizzlies have a record of 32 wins and 13 losses over the last two seasons. Suffice to say that Taylor Jenkins’ men know how to play without their “franchise player” and they now have to add a success to this record, because the Grizz’ delivered an authoritative performance in this Game 2, and this collectively, to return to 1 -1. The proof that this group is not to be taken lightly, with or without its All-Star leader, who will however try to be there on Saturday evening.
— A flurry of attack for Los Angeles. It’s hard to choose a worse time to perform your worst offensive performance of the season than Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs. However, this is what happened to the Lakers last night, unable to find their rhythm all evening in attack: 41% in shooting, including 27% from 3-point range, with also 12 lost balls. A performance all the more problematic as it occurred when Darvin Ham’s men had a lot of good situations to manage near the circle, but the work done in defense by the Jackson Jr. / Tillman pair completely disrupted them .
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Xavier Tillman. Definitely the X factor of this game. “The energizer” of the Grizzlies, the one who set the tone at the start with his omnipresence in the racket, between rebound activity and availability near the circle or aggressiveness in defense. Far from being a stranger to the fact that Anthony Davis struggled to exist offensively inside, or that Memphis dominated Los Angeles in terms of intensity and fighting spirit throughout the evening, Xavier Tillman represented better than anyone the mentality of his team without Ja Morant: “next-man-up”or the compensation for an absence by the other players, generally in the background.
✅ Rui Hachimura. Coming off the bench, the Japanese was one of the few rays of sunshine of the evening for Los Angeles and he once again demonstrated all his importance in the rotation of Darvin Ham, who clearly made him his 6th man. Becoming the first replacement for the Lakers since Magic Johnson (1996) to chain two games to 20+ points in the playoffs, the winger again seduced in attack, by his ability to convert his open shots and force the decision at mid-range, while in trust. Defensively, he also remains valuable with his versatility and robustness, forming a formidable triplet with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
⛔ D’Angelo Russell. We could have mentioned Dennis Schröder, transparent in output like almost the entire Californian bench, or even Anthony Davis, in great difficulty in attack but fortunately imperial in defense. However, it is impossible to do worse on the Lakers side than the performance of “D-Lo”: 5 points in 30 minutes, 2/11 to shoot (including 1/5 to 3-pointers), with 5 faults and 3 lost balls , not to mention 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Largely insufficient for this player called to be the third offensive option of Los Angeles, but who was unable to positively influence in attack, in addition to being targeted in defense by his vis-à-vis.
THE FOLLOWING
Game 3but in Los Angeles, on the night of Saturday to Sunday (04:00).
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How to read the stats? Min = Minutes; Shots = Shots made / Shots attempted; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; O = offensive rebound; D= defensive rebound; T = Total Bounces; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost bullets; Ct: Counters; +/- = Point differential when the player is on the field; Points = Points; Eval: player evaluation calculated from positive actions – negative actions.
