The Los Angeles Lakers faced the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night as they continued their bid to get out of the play-in positions and move into the Top 6 of the Western Conference standings.
However, they came up short once again, losing by a score of 104-99 in a closely contested game. The Grizzlies overcame a 14-point second half deficit, outscoring the Lakers 26-16 in the 4th quarter to seal their victory.
The Grizz felt real good about their win too, with the Twitter account of the franchise taking the opportunity to roast the Lakers. After the game was over, the official Grizzlies account tweeted a picture of a cartoon character holding the letter L to really rub in their loss.
.@Lakers pic.twitter.com/5XLK49uowV
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) December 30, 2021
The Grizzlies were powered by an incredible performance from point guard Ja Morant, who put up 41 points to go along with 10 rebounds. He was well supported by Desmond Bane who added 20 points and Jaren Jackson Jr., who scored 15.
LeBron James continued his impressive run of form scoring 37 points and grabbing 13 boards but it wasn’t enough. Russell Westbrook had a triple-double once again, but shot only 46% from the field.
The Grizzlies find themselves at the start of a potential winning streak, this being their 3rd victory in a row and taking them to a 22-14 record. They are now the 4th seed in the Western Conference and comfortably so, 3.5 games ahead of the 5th seed Nuggets.
The Lakers are inversely in a slump, having now lost 7 of their last 9 games and losing ground on the 6th seed Clippers, who beat the Boston Celtics quite comfortably on the night.
LeBron and company will surely take notice of the trash-talk that the Grizzlies have indulged in and will be itching to answer on the court. The two teams meet next on January 9th, just 10 days from now, in what promises to be a spicy match-up.
