Life without LeBron James is going to be very challenging for the Los Angeles Lakers. He is expected to miss at least two weeks with a right foot injury.
Without him, they took on the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, and for a while, they competed hard.
The Lakers were right there with Ja Morant and company in the first half and held a 49-46 halftime lead. The dam burst in the third quarter, however. They gave up 47 points in that frame, 28 of which were scored by Morant.
Los Angeles just didn’t have the firepower to respond after falling behind by double digits, and it lost to the Grizzlies 121-109. The biggest problem was turnovers; it gave the ball away a whopping 26 times, which led to 33 fast-break points for Memphis.
The Lakers will take the court Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are one spot behind them in 13th place in the Western Conference.
Anthony Davis: A-plus
With James out, Davis is the man many have said needs to step up and lead the way, and he did his part on Tuesday.
Although he didn’t score much in the first half, he was a force defensively and on the boards. His offense started to come around in the third quarter, and he finished with 28 points on 9-of-19 shooting and 10-of-13 from the free throw line, plus 19 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Jarred Vanderbilt: B-minus
The Lakers can count on Vanderbilt to bring the effort and energy. He grabbed eight rebounds and had one steal and one blocked shot in 29 minutes, and he hit the floor multiple times going after the ball.
Defensively, he took his shot at guarding multiple Grizzlies, including even Morant, but Morant had his way, finishing with 39 points.
But it was a frustrating night in some ways for Vanderbilt. He made 1-of-6 shots and turned the ball over three times, and a few times he seemed frustrated that he wasn’t the beneficiary of foul calls when he felt he got hit.
Troy Brown Jr.: D
Brown drew the start in place of James, and he played very poorly. He went 1-of-8 overall and missed all four of his 3-point attempts. He finished with two points and three rebounds in 26 minutes.
Dennis Schroder: B-minus
Schroder started again at point guard as D’Angelo Russell missed another game with a sprained ankle. The German native did his part with 10 assists, but he shot just 4-of-11 and committed six turnovers, with at least one of them coming on ill-advised passes.
Malik Beasley: B
Beasley was efficient against Memphis, hitting on 5-of-8 shots overall and going 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. He also contributed three rebounds, two assists and two steals to go along with his 12 points in 32 minutes.
On a night like this, when the Lakers needed an all-hands-on-deck approach offensively without James and Russell, they needed more shots and aggressiveness from Beasley. When he asserted himself, he did very well.
Rui Hachimura: B-minus/B
Hachimura has an opportunity to step up and prove his worth with James out. On Tuesday he went 3-of-7 from the field and 1-of-2 from downtown, giving him nine points plus five rebounds, one assist and one block in 20 minutes.
He will need to be a little more aggressive offensively, but at the same time, his teammates need to involve him more in L.A.’s set offense instead of just relegating him to a catch-and-shoot player beyond the 3-point arc.
Wenyen Gabriel: A
Gabriel has fallen out of head coach Darvin Ham’s rotation since the arrival of Hachimura and especially Vanderbilt, but he played 12 minutes on Tuesday and made the most of them.
He made all three of his shot attempts, but even better, he had eight rebounds plus one steal and one block.
Gabriel may be undersized and lacking skill-wise, but he overcomes some of those deficiencies with his palpable energy and effort.
Austin Reaves: A
This was another very strong game from Reaves. In 27 minutes, he scored 17 points on 5-of-8 overall and 4-of-7 from downtown, while also dishing seven assists.
He may not be a true scorer or facilitator, but more performances like this will be needed from him as long as James is unable to play.
Lonnie Walker IV: A
Walker had fallen out of the rotation after Beasley made his debut, but he was back in it on Tuesday, getting onto the court for 23 minutes, and he was very productive.
He scored 21 points on 7-of-15 overall shooting and 5-of-10 from 3-point land, while also adding four rebounds, one assist and one block. At one point in the second half, he drove the lane and threw down a monstrous dunk as the Lakers were trying to rally.
Mo Bamba, Davon Reed, Max Christie: Incomplete
Bamba, Reed and Christie received one minute of playing time at the end of the game, and all three went scoreless.
