MEMPHIS — If Saturday felt like a big game, the crowd booming while the music thumped in the fourth quarter, it’s because the teams treated it like one with the final two weeks of the season on their doorstep.
Pushing to the finish line, both the Lakers and the Grizzlies needed some momentum. The Lakers were coming off a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in Chicago and Memphis was playing its first game after firing longtime coach Taylor Jenkins in a surprise move.
And once the regular season ends, it’s very possible the Lakers and the Grizzlies will meet in the first round of the playoffs for the second time in three years.
An early lead didn’t matter much, the Grizzlies quickly catching up in a game where neither team could ever stop the other.
But in the fourth quarter, Dorian Finney-Smith fought off Zach Edey and Jaren Jackson Jr. for rebounds. Luka Doncic slid his feet to stay in front of Desmond Bane. LeBron James cleaned the glass and Austin Reaves crashed into the paint and put Memphis away with a three-point play, stamping it with an animated air punch.
If there was any emotional damage done by Josh Giddey’s half-court buzzer-beater or James’ late-game gaffes against the Bulls, it never showed, the Lakers fighting off the Grizzlies in a 134-127 win.
The Lakers’ three stars turned in high-impact games to end their road trip with a win. Reaves had 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Doncic had 29 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, and James scored 25 to go with six rebounds and eight assists.
Bane scored 29 points, Jackson had 24 points and Ja Morant, playing for the first time in two weeks, had 22 points for Memphis (44-30).
It’s the third time this season the Lakers (45-29) have beaten the Grizzlies, assuring them of any tiebreaker between the teams in the tight Western Conference playoff race.
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