Game 5 on Wednesday presented the Los Angeles Lakers with the opportunity to get past the first round of the playoffs for only the second time in the last 11 years.
They had to do so on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies, who had the NBA’s best home record during the regular season.
The Grizzlies took an early lead, which they extended to 17 with 4:40 left in the second quarter. Los Angeles trimmed that lead to nine at halftime, and when it came to within one early in the third quarter. It looked like perhaps it was only a matter of time before it would impose its will on the young and chippy Grizzlies.
But the Lakers’ shooting went south late in the period, allowing Memphis to build an 18-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. By that point, the game was over for all intents and purposes.
With a 116-99 win, Ja Morant and company have forced a Game 6 back in Southern California on Friday and trimmed L.A.’s series lead to 3-2. All of a sudden, the pressure will shift back to a Lakers team that is still somewhat untested.
Anthony Davis: A-plus
As he usually does, Davis bounced back in strong fashion from a bad game. He went 4-of-13 and scored only 12 points in Game 4, but he was on point from the beginning in Game 5.
Memphis put Dillon Brooks, who is only 6-foot-7, on Davis much of the time, perhaps wanting to prevent starting center Jaren Jackson Jr. from getting into foul trouble. Davis ate him up and got off to a hot start, scoring 18 points in the first half on 8-of-13 shooting while grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking two shots.
He finished with 31 points on 14-of-23 from the field and 19 rebounds, as well as two blocked shots, one steal and one assist. Perhaps his one deficiency was the fact that he attempted just three free throws.
LeBron James: D
James was the biggest culprit in this loss for the Lakers. He had one of his worst games of the season, as he started 1-of-7 from the field and ended up shooting just 5-of-17 overall and 1-of-9 from 3-point range, giving him just 15 points.
The superstar was ineffective driving to the basket, and he lost the ball on a number of attacks into the paint. He ended up committing five turnovers, all in the first half. As the game wore on, he started settling for outside shots.
James contributed 10 rebounds and five assists, but he seemed to be more of a negative than a positive.
Perhaps his poor play was an aftereffect of his intense effort in Game 4 when he had 22 points and 20 rebounds while playing 45 draining minutes. He played 37 minutes in Game 5, and perhaps head coach Darvin Ham should’ve pulled him a little earlier in the fourth quarter with the outcome already decided and the Lakers unable to make any type of meaningful rally.
Jarred Vanderbilt: C
Vanderbilt had an energetic start. He scored five early points, but overall, he didn’t seem to make much of an impact.
After doing a good job on Morant in Game 1 and Game 4, he failed to corral the Grizzlies’ franchise player in Game 5. Morant went off for 31 points on 13-of-26 shooting, 10 rebounds and seven assists. He keyed the late third-quarter run that put the game away.
Vanderbilt picked up his fourth foul with 7:36 left in the third quarter on a charging violation, forcing him to go to the bench, and he never came back into the contest. He had seven points, three assists and two rebounds in 18 minutes.
D'Angelo Russell: B-minus
Russell started slowly, going just 1-of-4 in the first half. But he hit three straight shots early in the third quarter, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to bring L.A. within one point.
After that, he did not make another shot. He finished 4-of-11 from the field, giving him 11 points.
However, Russell was very effective in setting up his teammates. He had 10 assists, which was the most by any player on either team in this game, and he committed just one turnover. His passing was one reason why Davis had such a dominant bounce-back performance.
Austin Reaves: C-plus
Reaves was one of several Lakers players who appeared to keep fighting down the stretch even when the team was down by a big margin. He shot 3-of-6 in the first half, but he missed all four of his shots in the third period and ended up shooting just 4-of-13 for the game.
Reaves hit 3-of-8 from 3-point range and all six of his free throws while getting eight rebounds and six assists. But another blemish for him was his four turnovers. He and James alone accounted for nine of L.A.’s 13 turnovers.
Rui Hachimura: B
Hachimura, as he has lately, gave the Lakers a lift off the bench. He just didn’t give them as big a lift as he did in the first three games of this series, and he failed to produce much when the game got away from them.
He went 4-of-8 overall and 1-of-3 from downtown, giving him nine points in 21 minutes. On some nights that would’ve been adequate, but it wasn’t on this day.
Troy Brown Jr.: C-minus
Brown produced four rebounds in 12 minutes of playing time, but he failed to make an offensive contribution, missing both of his shots and going scoreless.
Dennis Schroder: D
Schroder often gives the Lakers a spark in at least one of several categories, but he failed to do so on Wednesday. Like Brown, he went scoreless by missing both of his shot attempts, and he only contributed one rebound, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes.
Malik Beasley: C-plus
In 11 minutes, Beasley scored six points, but he wasn’t very efficient in doing so, as he went 2-of-6 from the field, with all six of his shot attempts coming from downtown.
Wenyen Gabriel: B-minus/B
In eight minutes, Gabriel got two rebounds and scored one bucket while coming up with two steals.
Shaquille Harrison, Lonnie Walker IV, Max Christie: Incomplete
All three came in during garbage time at the end of the game, and all three went scoreless, although Harrison did contribute one rebound and one steal.
