Morant’s career night propels Grizzlies to come-from-behind win over Lakers
Ja Morant had one of the best performances in his young NBA career in helping lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a come-from-behind win over the Los Angeles Lakers at home.
Morant was, simply put, spectacular against the Lakers. He finished with 41 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 assists. He out-dueled LeBron James (37 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists) and was even showered with “MVP” chants by the fans at the FedEx Forum.
The 6’3″ budding superstar led the Grizzlies to a 104-99 win against a Lakers team that finds itself with their backs against the wall after falling to 17-19 on the season.
Ja Morant propels the Memphis Grizzlies to an epic win over the Lakers
The third-year player out of Murray State recorded a career-best six made three-pointers, shooting 6 of 7 from beyond the arc.
As the Bally’s Sports Broadcasting crew pointed out, no Grizzlies player has ever had multiple 40-point games in a single season. Morant has done it twice now against the same team: versus the Lakers on Dec. 29 and again versus the Lakers on Oct. 24.
The Grizzlies were down by as many as 14 points late in the third quarter and went on a 38-19 run to end the game to beat LA.
Ja Morant relentlessly attacked the basket throughout the game and managed to record a game-high 12 free-throw attempts (sinking nine of them).
Tyus Jones gave the team their first lead of the entire game at 6:50 mark in the fourth with a floater to give Memphis a 93-92 lead—they never looked back after that.
The Grizzlies overcame poor shooting in the first half, a hot-handed LeBron James and a Russell Westbrook triple-double to get the win.
Memphis capitalized on 18 Laker turnovers as well as Westbrook and starter Avery Bradley remaining in foul trouble throughout the game.
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Memphis improves to 2-1 on the season against Los Angeles, with the final regular season meeting set for Jan. 9, 2022 at Crypto.com Arena.