LOS ANGELES- Well, the ideal situation happened.

I said in my preview that:

“Even if they’re not shooting a good percentage, Memphis will put up a lot of threes so the Lakers have to close out or take them out of shooting those bombs. Also remember that the Lakers are playing the first game of a back-to-back so it’ll be ideal for the Lakers to put this away early.”

The Lakers put it away early. They actually led for the first time at the half this season, which seems absurd because this is the 11th game of the campaign. Los Angeles once led by 31 points. The final tally was 134-107.

The Grizzlies were missing so many players. Ja Morant is serving a lengthy suspension. Steven Adams is out for the season due to knee surgery. Brandon Clarke has not returned from a torn ACL. And Derrick Rose is sitting out because of his own knee issues.

Early in the game, Marcus Smart turned an ankle and never returned to the game. The only tense moment between the two teams was a little dust-up between Anthony Davis and Santi Aldama. Then the Lakers jumped to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and that was pretty much it.

Anthony Davis was blocking all the shots. The Lakers were making all the three-pointers. And LeBron James was back to do this:

LeBron James behind the back pass to D'Angelo Russell, who buries the triple. pic.twitter.com/TVAQX4EL77

— Oh no he didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) November 15, 2023

The Grizzlies just didn’t have the talent and the size to match up with the Lakers. Not only that but the Lakers were just shooting the lights out. They tied a franchise record with 22 threes. Like I said, the Grizz shoot a lot of threes but somehow, the Lakers even got the advantage in that. It was just the perfect storm for the Lakers and it was a good thing that it became a blowout (LeBron and Davis sat out the fourth) as the Lakers have another game the next night against the Sacramento Kings.

Lakers had 7 players in double figures! They were led by D’Angelo Russell with 24 and Rui Hachimura with 23. Anthony Davis went 19-11-5 and blocked 6 shots. The Grizz were led by Santi Aldama with 24 points. David Roddy had 17 while Xavier Tillman and Desmond Bane each put in 15 points.

The Lakers are now 2-0 in the In-Season Tournament. They have also won three in a row as they are now starting to find their stride. Let’s see if they’ll continue to be striders on Wednesday as they take on their old rivals, the Sacramento Kings.