Purple and Gold Break Memphis' Streak

After a week of close calls, the Lakers defeated the Grizzlies Friday night at home, breaking their 11-game winning streak with a nail-biting end of 122-121.

The last minutes of the game was the tell all as both teams fought to walk away with the win. In the end, Dennis Schröder secured the ‘W’ for L.A. when he stole the ball from Desmond Bane and scored an impressive layup.

“We wanted to trap first before we fouled...I just got the steal and I just thought ‘push the ball’...I think the last couple minutes we did a great job just rebounding and pushing the pace,” says Schröder in the postgame interview. The point guard obtained 19 points, eight rebounds and eight assists during the 33 minutes he was on the court.

Russell Westbrook was an obvious star of the intense showdown with 29 points, five rebounds and six assists. In the last 10 minutes of the game, Westbrook made a clutch basket on one leg when a Memphis player put him off balance and fouled him. During the last five minutes, he assisted Thomas Bryant which resulted in a powerful dunk.

In the postgame interview, Westbrook was asked how he was able to find his rhythm offensively. He said, “Just playing my game.”

In the last minute of the game, Westbrook and Lebron James’ teamwork was unmatched. James grabbed Westbrook’s rebound bringing the score to 115-118 and moments later Westbrook caught James’ rebound and the score was a one-point difference.

“To get a win like this is a momentum swing,” said Lakers coach Darvin Ham, “The guys were kind of down after the Sacramento game, but we addressed areas that we needed to get better. There’s no way we win this game if we didn't have the type of fight that we had.”