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The Los Angeles Lakers have to wait to get into the second playoff round: In Game 5, LeBron James and Co. had nothing to gain away from the Memphis Grizzlies – the King in particular remained pale for his standards. The Lakers lose 99-116.

James scored just 15 points, at 5/17 from the field (plus 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 5 turnovers). Anthony Davis was the top Laker with 31 points and 19 rebounds. The Grizzlies shone on the backcourt with Ja Morant (31 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists) and Desmond Bane (33, 10 and 5). Jaren Jackson Jr. also had a double-double (18, 10, 2 blocks).

Game 6 of the series takes place on Saturday night (4:30 a.m.) in Los Angeles, with a potential Game 7 on Sunday in Memphis. The Lakers lead 3-2 in the best-of-seven series.

“We’re strongest with our backs to the wall,” Bane said after the game. “We had to react to the games in LA and provide an answer.”

Dennis Schröder came off the bench for the Lakers as usual, but remained without a point in 19 minutes (0/2 FG) and with a plus-minus of -20.

19-2 run in the 3rd quarter leads Grizzlies to victory

So far, the team that was in front after the 1st quarter had won all four games. A good omen for the home side, who put Bane straight into play with a couple of jumpers, and Ja Morant also found his way into the game well. The Lakers, with whom Anthony Davis started very energetically again this time, stayed on – until Memphis put on a 10-0 run in the last two minutes: 7 points from Morant, plus a three from Luke Kennard – 38:24 after the first twelve minutes.

In the second half of the game, the game went back and forth: the Lakers reduced to around ten points several times, and the Grizzlies pulled away several times. Finally there were a few threes in LA, on the other side Luke Kennard had to go down early with his third foul. The highlight of the quarter was an alley-oop on Morant, who climbed over LeBron James and was fouled by him – but the ball still fell. AD was also there: Block against a corner three, on the other side the three-point game after a foul by Morant. Thanks to him, Los Angeles were only 9 behind at the break, having been 17 just before: 18 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks. Morant also had 18 points, while Bane even had 21 (7/12).

D’Angelo Russell brought the Lakers up to -1 with 8 quick points after the break – all open again. LA grabbed the zone and played 5-on-4 on defense – Dillon Brooks was completely ignored at the perimeter when he was in the game. Once again, he couldn’t punish the disregard, it only worked for the Grizzlies in this phase if Morant took over. But LeBron was finally in the game offensively, but again the Grizzlies ended the quarter strong and put on a phenomenal 19:2 run. 94:76!

Early in the final quarter, LeBron missed two threes while the Grizzlies, with Davis on the bench, relentlessly attacked the basket. After a three-point play by Bane, the lead grew to 25 (101-76) and viewers on the FedExForum celebrated. With James and Davis back on the floor, the Lakers caught up a bit and made the Grizzlies nervous, where Kennard had to leave with a shoulder injury. The guests didn’t get any closer than 12 points.

The most important statistics

Memphis Grizzlies (W7) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (W2) 116:99 (BOXSCORE), Serie: 2-3

• The Lakers kept up well on boards (54:52) and turnovers (13:11) this time, but the team in purple and gold had a used day in threes this time: 10/39, that’s a miserable 25.6 Percent. When there were signs of a catch-up race again in the final quarter, one threesome after the other was lost at times. The Grizzlies fared better in that regard at 14/40.
• Dillon Brooks defended Anthony Davis in the first half to avoid foul trouble on Jaren Jackson Jr. a mistake? Due to the mismatch, the ball went to AD from the start, and Big Man, who was often too passive, had to become active – Memphis kind of woke the bear. With 14/23 from the field and a whopping 19 boards, Davis showed what he’s capable of after the weak Game 4 this time.
• In general, Brooks is such an obvious weak point on offense in this series that his minutes in game 6 should shrink again. 3/15 from the field, 2/10 from downtown – scores 8 points in 30 minutes. With him, Memphis plays 4 against 5 offensively. With Luke Kennard (2/3 3FG), on the other hand, the offense looks much better – he was at +26 in 18 minutes: Means: With him on the court, the Grizzlies made the decisive runs.
• Should Darvin Ham have given up the game sooner? 25 points down in the final quarter, he let LeBron and Davis go instead of resting them for Game 6. LeBron went out 4:04 minutes before the end, Davis even only 1:58 before the end. And before the next game – and a possible game 7 – there is only one day off each…