The Grizzlies met the Lakers in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, the Grizzlies had the second highest regular season record in the West that season, and the Lakers played the play-offs to get the seventh place in the West. The Lakers have a net win of 45 points in six games.
The reason why the Grizzlies will be the Lakers' black seven, a very important reason is that the interior line was crushed by the Lakers, the Grizzlies' starting center Adams missed the playoffs due to injury, I thought that 3J could compete with the thick eyebrows, because 3J is the DPOY of the season, he is young and strong, taller than the thick eyebrows, and his athleticism is also very good, but I didn't expect 3J to be not the opponent of the thick eyebrows.
In this round of the game, thick eyebrows averaged 20.8 points, 13.7 rebounds, 2 assists and 4.3 blocks per game, with a shooting rate of 49% and an average plus/minus of +11.5 per game, and 3J averaged 18 points, 7.8 boards, 1.5 assists and 2 blocks per game in this round of games, with a shooting rate of 42.2% and an average plus/minus of -6.2 per game. In the confrontation between the two, the advantage of thick eyebrows is very obvious. According to the statistics on the NBA's official website, in this round of the game, 3J faced 9 of 30 in the face of thick eyebrows, with a shooting rate of 30%, and 15 of 34 in the face of thick eyebrows in 3J, with a shooting rate of 44.1%.
3J can't beat the thick eyebrows, Adams was also traded to the Rockets by the Grizzlies in February 2024, with the Grizzlies' current interior configuration, the Lakers will have to suffer, the Grizzlies have to improve their interior strength, they did so, today's NBA draft, the Grizzlies selected Canadian center Zach Eddie with the No. 9 pick. Eddie is 22 years old, although his athleticism is not good, but his static physical talent is outstanding, he is 2.24 meters tall, has an arm span of 2.41 meters, weighs 136 kilograms, and has solid skills, he can be called the big Zubac, he played in 39 games at Purdue University in the 2023-24 season, averaging 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2.2 blocks per game, shooting 62.3% from the field and 71.1% from the free throw line.
After the Grizzlies have Zach Eddie, 3J can play his favorite No. 4 position again, when the Grizzlies meet the Lakers again, it should be difficult for the Lakers to gain the upper hand inside, Zach Eddie's huge size can cause trouble for the thick eyebrows, 3J will also show an advantage in the No. 4 position, plus the Grizzlies' outside line is much stronger than the Lakers' outside line, and the Grizzlies should be able to snow the shame of being black seven in the 2023 playoffs when they meet the Lakers again in the new season.