Lakers to blame for loss to Grizzlies without Ja Morant

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The Los Angeles Lakers, in prime position to take advantage of a Memphis Grizzlies team without Ja Morant, fell flat in Game 2 of their first-round series on Wednesday night.

While there was one bright spot to take away from the 103-93 loss – LeBron James’ play – the loss mostly left a bad taste in the mouths of Lakers fans, who viewed the game as a chance to take the lead. control of Memphis after Morant missed the contest due to a wrist injury.

And they now need someone to blame for the ugly loss.

Well, we’re here to deliver that to the Los Angeles devotees!

Here are three Lakers most responsible for the loss to the Grizzlies without Ja Morant.

Lakers to blame for Grizzlies loss

3. HC Darwin Ham

It’s hard to put all the blame on Darvin Ham when multiple Lakers have played so poorly (more on that in a bit.) But Ham deserves at least some blame for not mixing things up a bit with his rotations from the game 2.

For example, instead of playing starting point guard yes I called him a point guard – D’Angelo Russell, who is mired in a shooting crisis, for 30 minutes Ham could have turned to his bench to a spark.

Perhaps Malik Beasley, who scored seven points in just 13 minutes, could have given the Lakers offense more shock than what Russell provided.

Ham also deserves at least partial blame for failing to counter the Grizzlies’ physical approach to defending star Anthony Davis.

Ham can’t be blamed more than that outside of those factors, as it’s ultimately up to the Lakers players to execute when the lights are brightest.

2. F/C Anthony Davis

Before we pile on Anthony Davis here, let’s be clear. On a night without shooting, Davis helped make up for his lesser production on the offensive side with a stellar performance on defense.

After blocking seven shots and making three interceptions in Game 1 against the Grizzlies, Davis denied five more shot attempts.

But even that effort was not enough for Davis to escape blame.

The Lakers big man shot just 4 of 14 from the field and only attempted four free throws.

On a night when LA got a big effort from LeBron James — 28 points, 12 rebounds, one turnover — his sidekick Davis was nowhere to be found.

Luckily for Lakers fans, Davis has been an outstanding playoff performer of his career.

Fans should expect a big bounce from The Brow in Game 3.

1. G D’Angelo Russell

DAngelo Russell was catastrophic on Wednesday night. In what has unfortunately been a common occurrence in recent Lakers games, Russell couldn’t get any shots to go down.

After a 1-for-9 shooting performance against his former team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, in the Los Angeles Play-In Tournament win, Russell bounced back in the Game 1 win over the Grizzlies, scoring 19 usable points. on a shot of 7 for 17. .

But Russell couldn’t keep up the momentum in Game 2, shooting a putrid 2-for-12 from the field, including 1-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc.

Unfortunately for Lakers fans, that’s nothing new for Russell in the playoffs.

The 27-year-old has shot less than 50% from the field in each of his first 13 career playoff games, which is the longest streak for an early career playoff player since DeMar DeRozan from 2014-2016 , by SportsCenter.

To make matters worse, Russell took issue with a Lakers reporter calling him a playmaker, as he got a bit irritated with the media during his post-game availability.

Not only did Russell not show up for Game 2 on the pitch, he didn’t help himself much off the pitch after his less than stellar performance.

Worse, still, for the Lakers is that this becomes an unfortunate playoff pattern for Russell.

Simply put, he has to be better for LA to win this series.

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