The Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies collide in a pivotal Game 2 at the FedExForum on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Lakers will be heading into this one full of confidence after dominating the Grizzlies by 128-112 in Game 1 and what made it more impressive was that it wasn’t the usual suspects doing the heavy lifting. Rui Hachimura led all scorers with 29 points on 11 of 14 shooting off the bench, Austin Reaves added 23 points on eight of 13 shooting, Anthony Davis scored 22 points with 12 rebounds and seven blocks while LeBron James chipped in with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. As a team, the Lakers shot 53 percent from the field and 16 of 37 from the 3-point line as they struggled to contain the Grizzlies early on and trailed going into halftime, before they exploded for 69 points in the second half to make it look easy in the end.
Meanwhile, the Memphis Grizzlies will be eager to bounce back in a big way after getting dominated in the second half of Game 1. Jaren Jackson Jr. led the team with 31 points, five rebounds and four assists, Desmond Bane added 22 points with six assists while Ja Morant chipped in with 18 points on eight of 14 shooting before leaving the game with an injured hand that could keep him out of Game 2. As a team, the Grizzlies shot 47 percent from the field and 13 of 36 from the 3-point line as they poured in 38 points in the second quarter to take the lead into halftime, only to get blown away in the second half as they struggled without Morant on the court.
Looking at the betting trends, the Lakers are 4-0 ATS in their last four games playing on two days’ rest and 5-1 ATS in their last six games against a team with a winning record. The Grizzlies are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games and 1-5 ATS in their last six games overall.
Head to head, the under is 14-4-1 in the last 19 meetings overall and the under is 9-1-1 in the last 11 meetings in Memphis.
The Lakers must be feeling so good after what happened in the series opener as they got plenty of production from their young role players and now they’re taking on the Grizzlies who could be missing their leader in Ja Morant. We’ve seen the Grizzlies play some great basketball without Morant in the lineup, so a bounce-back win wouldn’t surprise me at all. However, the Lakers were in a groove in the second half and I think they can take a 2-0 lead with another win here.
AUTHOR: Peter Tran
