The Los Angeles Lakers were seemingly in control, up by 13 late in the third quarter, before Ja Morant nearly outproduced them on his own down the stretch in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 104-99 home win on Wednesday.
Morant scored 16 of his 41 points from the 3-minute, 38-second mark in the third through the final buzzer, keying a 37-19 push by Memphis to finish things off.
“When you shoot the ball as well as he did tonight from the perimeter, with his speed and his athleticism, it’s gonna be hard to contain a guy like that because he’s doing the whole three levels of scoring,” said LeBron James, whose 37 points, including eight 3-pointers to tie a career high, went for naught. “You can’t — there’s nothing you can do. He has you at his beck [and call].”
It was the second time Morant topped 40 points against the Lakers this season in the two times he has played them.
He shot 13-for-27 from the field on Wednesday, including 6-for-7 from 3-point range, and was 9-for-12 from the free throw line, adding 10 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
As strong as his final flourish was, he was equally impressive earlier in the game when he scored 16 points in a row for the Grizzlies bridging the late second quarter and early third.
“We started fouling, man, and he went to the free throw line and started seeing the ball go in, and he got his rhythm that way,” Lakers guard Malik Monk said. “And when a guy gets it going like that, there’s not much you can do.”
Memphis’ comeback thwarted what could have been a 2-0 road trip for the Lakers to get them back to .500 after a win at the Houston Rockets on Tuesday. Instead, L.A. (17-19) is looking at the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference standings as the season nears the midway point, with Memphis (22-14) strengthening its grip on the No. 4 seed.
“Obviously, Ja, what an unbelievable night by him, the tone he was setting throughout the game,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said. “When he got going, it just kind of fueled…
Source : espn
