Facing the Grizzlies with a broken lineup, the Lakers were almost reversed. At the critical moment, James stepped up and scored 6 points in a row to kill the game. After a steal and a fast-break back dunk, James landed right in front of Morant, the core of the Grizzlies who was watching the game from the sidelines. He smirked a wicked smile and was pushed away by Morant. On April 13, Beijing time, the Lakers defeated the Grizzlies 123-120. James had 37 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal, but had 8 turnovers. Brother Bushy Mei had 36 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, and 4 turnovers.
James created another miracle, he made 8 of 11 free throws in this game, and his career free throw shooting came to 8384, surpassing Kobe's 8378 to rise to third all-time, only behind Karl Malone's 9787 and Moses Malone's 8531.
James and Brother Bushy Mei scored 35+5+5 in the same game, becoming the first pair in team history since Kobe and O'Neal in 2003 to score at least 35 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in a single game at the same time. James has scored 1,794 points this season, and even if James doesn't score a point in the last game, he has averaged more than 25 points per game this season, thus ranking first in history for 20 consecutive seasons with 25+ points per game (20.9 points per game in his rookie season).
Brother Bush made a comeback in this game, and the Lakers fielded regular starters. The Grizzlies, on the other hand, have all of their main players injured and put together eight players on two-way contracts. Channon Sharpe even described the Grizzlies as fielding a G-League lineup.
The Lakers played badly in this game, and the defense was lax, allowing the Grizzlies players to score easily. Lakers waiver Scottie Pippen Jr. exploded in this game, scoring 28 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals, setting a career high in scoring. Grizzlies star G.G. Jackson had 31 points and three steals, and shot 7-of-13 from three-point range.
Prior to this game, the Lakers were 10th in the West and very disadvantaged in the play-in zone, and no team in the league's history had finished 10th in the regular season to make the playoffs through the playoffs.
Therefore, the Lakers must win the last two regular season games to achieve a better regular season standing, otherwise it will be quite difficult to win two consecutive road games in the play-offs to advance to the playoffs.
The Lakers won the first quarter 34-26, but the Grizzlies went 38-34 in the second quarter. Shannon Sharpe tweeted: "It's embarrassing that the Lakers' G-League lineup against the Grizzlies is playing so hard!"
The Grizzlies went 33-30 in the third quarter, trailing the Lakers by just one point. In the final quarter of the game, the Lakers once led by 8 points. But the tenacious grizzly did not give up. With 1:06 left in the game, Jack Larevia made a foul and hit both free throws, giving the Grizzlies a 118-117 lead. Grizzlies fans at the scene were excited and saw the hope of winning.
The Lakers' next offense played very patiently, with the whole team constantly passing the ball, and finally James dribbling to the interior to score a layup. Grizzlies Goodwin missed a shot, James grabbed a defensive rebound and was fouled by Larevia, and he hit both free throws to give the Lakers a three-point lead.
The Grizzlies then missed Jackson's shot and Goodwin's basket. Jack White grabbed the offensive rebound and distributed the ball to his teammates, but James was very clever enough to make a steal from between the two and put on a very good fast-break back dunk before landing in front of Morant with a wicked smile.
Grizzlies coach Jenkins complained about being whistled for a technical foul, but unfortunately James couldn't add a free throw. Although the Grizzlies' subsequent offense was scored by Goodwin for two points, it didn't help.
It was a bad game for the Lakers. If you play the play-offs with such a performance, you will definitely not be able to break through. Coach Ham said after the game: "Lack of defensive rebounds, poor fouls, protection of the ball are the main problems for the team. We did need to solve some problems, but we really needed to win this game, and we did win. ”