The Lakers are facing a red-hot Grizzlies team that has won nine of its last ten games, while L.A. has lost seven of its last ten matchups.
The Lakers are back home and will take on the surging Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. This will be the third matchup between these teams this season.
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Memphis Grizzlies
When: 6:30 p.m. PT, Dec 15
Where: Crypto.com Arena
Watch: Spectrum SportsNet
The last time these two teams faced each other, the Lakers were in the midst of a six-game winning streak. The good vibes were flowing, the team was heading in a good direction and they were near the top of the Western Conference standings.
Then, an ugly loss to the Orlando Magic happened and now L.A. is in a major slump.
It's a rut that has seen them lose seven out of their last ten games. The Lakers have gone from the third seed of the Western Conference to the 10th, barely keeping them available for postseason play.
Then there’s the Grizzlies, who, during this timeframe, have found their groove and have risen to the second seed of the Western Conference, having won nine out of their last 10 games.
Los Angeles has shown they can both win and lose to anyone on any given night.
So it’s fair to think they can be competitive at home against this same Memphis team they beat a few weeks ago, led by LeBron James and Dalton Knecht. Maybe Redick can remind them how well they played in that victory because they will need some confidence heading into Sunday’s game.
This Grizzlies team does many things the Lakers have difficulty containing, such as running in transition. Ja Morant will look to get into the open space and feast on L.A.’s guards. When he doesn’t have an open lane, he’ll dish to his bigs and aim to win the points in the paint battle.
The Lakers’ defense will need to be, at the very least, decent if they want a chance to beat this red-hot Grizzlies team on Sunday.
With James upgraded to questionable ahead of Sunday, it would be nice to get some much-needed offensive production from the 39-year-old after a week of rest.
Hopefully, LeBron has no rust whatsoever in this one. As we saw in the team’s previous loss to the Wolves, Los Angeles surely could’ve used his scoring and ball handling to limit the 21 turnovers they committed and keep up with the other team’s scoring.
Speaking of keeping up, the Lakers will have to do that against this Grizzlies team that now ranks number one in the league in points produced per game at 122.6.
Their offensive rating of 116.9 is fourth in the NBA and their defensive rating of 109.8 is seventh best in the league. This young Memphis team is also the third-best rebounding team and leads the association in blocks per game.
It's safe to say that the Lakers are in for a challenge on Sunday. They will have to play their best basketball in weeks if they want to start turning their trajectory around. Let’s see if they can do exactly that against the visiting Grizzlies.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
