Lakers Take Game Three by First Quarter

The Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Memphis Grizzlies in game three of their playoff series Saturday night, 101-111. The Lakers now lead the series 2-1.

Crypto Arena was roaring as the Lakers fought for a playoff win at home. Los Angeles was off to an aggressive start in the first quarter creating a 20-point gap early on. Memphis was able to earn a sad nine points throughout the entire quarter. It was the largest lead after the first quarter in NBA postseason history. The Lakers slammed the Grizzlies into the ground during the beginning of the game, running circles around the second seed team and making them look inexperienced and helpless.

Coach Darvin Ham spoke on the teams' great defensive plays right off the bat in the postgame press conference. “That was something we touched yesterday in practice. Just establishing a defensive minded physical tone and just dig in and multiple efforts, activity, being ready, transition defense is key...and then trying to finish a possession with a rebound,” said Coach Ham.

The determination from LA was led by Anthony Davis, Lebron James and D’Angelo Russell. Davis had 31 points, 17 rebounds and two assists, James earned 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Russell clocked in 17 points, four rebounds and seven assists.

After the win, James said, “It’s important for us to play well. We want to play better than we did in game two, but I think we did that. But we still have room for improvement going into game four and we know they’re going to be better as well.”

In the start of the second quarter, Rui Hachimura had more points, 10, than Memphis had on the scoreboard. Los Angeles was still on fire with strong energy and defense, without giving the Grizzlies one chance with a drastic score of 46-17.

By the end of the second quarter, the 20-point lead by the Lakers was still intact, along with blocks and hot defensive plays from LA. Memphis was intimidated by the powerful start from the Lakers, their alpha attitude that came out of the gate, and the noise from Lakers fans in Crypto.

James went down in the beginning of the second half after Dillon Brooks hit James in the groin. It was a flagrant foul against Brooks, and he was tossed out of the game for the low blow. The Lakers kept the lead after a couple of turnovers for the Grizzlies and a clutch dunk by James.

The drama filled game continued with aggression and altercations between Hachimura and Grizzlies players David Roddy and Konchar after Konchar pushed Hachimura as he was running down the court for a play. The lead for the Lakers continued and Memphis pushed with all their energy to barely close the gap during the final quarter of the game.

At the end of the game, Davis addressed the drama between the two teams and said, “We just want to take care of the home floor. You know, we’re not getting into the back and forth, we let our game speak for ourselves...the trash talk is going to be there with the guys that they have. It’s playoff basketball, we wouldn’t expect anything less from them.”