The Memphis Grizzlies aren't good, so we shouldn't get carried away here. They're young, and their roster has been put together without a coherent blueprint. Playing at home, the Lakers should beat these guys, even with Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in dry-dock.
All that said, the Lakers put on a splendid all-around show tonight. After a sputtery first half that ended with the Grizz up 2, the L.A. offense roared into high gear to win going away. Ron Artest (14 points 19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) continued his All Star-caliber play, DJ Mbenga (a career-high 13 rebounds) and Josh Powell filled in ably for the missing frontcourt starters, and Derek Fisher and Jordan Farmar tag-teamed the point position as well as they have in ages.
What everyone will be talking about, though, is Adam Morrison, who lit up the scoreb-... no, sorry. I'm misreading my notes. Kobe Bryant, I meant to say, is what everyone will be talking about tomorrow. Working almost exclusively from the post, he kneecapped the Grizzly defense with 41 points on 65% True Shooting. Just as remarkably, he committed zero turnovers. OJ Mayo spent most of the night guarding Kobe one-on-one and basically got vaporized.
The box score is here, and the tempo-free numbers are below. Enjoy your evening. The Lakers are 5-1.
|
|
Poss. |
TO% |
FTA/ |
FT% |
EFG% |
TS% |
Off Reb% |
Def Reb% |
PPP |
|
Lakers |
89 |
9 |
0.12 |
82 |
55 |
57 |
40 |
72 |
1.28 |
|
Grizz |
88 |
14 |
0.37 |
76 |
48 |
53 |
28 |
60 |
1.11 |