LeBron James vents after Grizzlies hand Lakers their 4th straight loss – Daily News

LeBron James vents after Grizzlies hand Lakers their 4th straight loss – Daily News

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LOS ANGELES — For the Lakers, this homestand is supposed to be about righting the ship.

Consider there more work to be done after Friday night’s 127-113 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, their fourth consecutive defeat and their 10th in the last 13 games.

“I don’t know,” a visibly perturbed LeBron James responded when asked whether the cracks from this skid were showing during their 12-4 run (including the In-Season Tournament championship win) from Nov. 10-Dec. 9. “I’m not thinking too far in the past, to be honest. I mean, we just suck right now.”

The effort was present. So was the improved shotmaking and ball security after Wednesday’s sloppy loss to the Miami Heat.

But the defensive stops were not.

The Grizzlies (12-23) buried the Lakers (17-19) with 3-pointers, shooting 23 for 45 from behind the arc – the most 3-pointers Memphis has made in a game and the most a Laker opponent has converted this season.

“They shot the hell out of the ball,” Coach Darvin Ham said of the Grizzlies, who rank last in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage. “Some guys that came in with lower percentages from the whole team to certain individuals and they knocked them down. It seems to be the pattern of people stepping their game up when they come in our building.”

It also continued the Lakers’ troubling trend of defending shots from the perimeter. Laker opponents shot 40.8% on shots from behind the arc over the previous 12 games entering Friday.

“We got to be ready, force with force,” Ham said. “I thought for the most part, I saw a lot of improvement from last game. Coming into halftime with only four turnovers for no points. But, again, third quarter, certain balls got away from us and a team like that they are getting back whole. They were able to take advantage of some opportunities. And so, a couple of guys got scorching hot.

“But that said, I’m in this thing for the fight and I’m not about to hang my head or anything. I’m disappointed we lost, disappointed that we have lost multiple games now in a row. But it’s just only going to make the fire bigger in my chest to try to figure this thing out, and that was my message to the team after the game. It was a much better performance and obviously it stings, but that irritation should cause you to want to better and be better and we will.”

Ham said before the game that he felt confident in his job security because of his discussions with owner Jeanie Buss and General Manager Rob Pelinka. After another discouraging defeat, Ham expressed frustration with the public reception of their recent struggles.

“This is the NBA, man,” Ham said. “This is a marathon. You have to look at the totality of the picture. I’m tired of people living and dying with every single game we play. It’s ludicrous, actually. It’s like, ‘Come on, man. This is a marathon.’ We hit a tough stretch. It’s the same team. We played some high-level games a little while ago, and we’ve just got to get back to that. We’ve got to keep the fight, though. We cannot lose our fight.”

James doesn’t seem to share his coach’s optimism, dismissing the suggestion that the Lakers’ solid play in the tournament semifinals and final was an indication that this team can contend for the NBA title.

“That was just two games, though,” James said. “That was a small sample. Everybody is getting so cracked up about Vegas, keep bringing up Vegas. It was two games. We took care of that business … but that was really just two games.”

Even with James (32 points, seven assists, five rebounds, five steals) and Anthony Davis (31 points, six rebounds, four assists) combining for 63 points, and the Lakers scoring 23 points off Memphis’ 19 turnovers, the Grizzlies’ firepower was too much for the Lakers to keep up with.

Memphis outscored the Lakers 33-19 in the fourth quarter after the teams had played to a 94-all draw through three.

Every time it looked like the Lakers were going to go on a run, the Grizzlies answered with a 3-pointer or a play in transition that deflated all of the Lakers’ momentum.

“We gotta do better as players to affect them to miss shots,” Austin Reaves said. “They shot 51% from three [Friday], that’s not acceptable. And we have to take it upon ourselves to do better.”

The Grizzlies, who are 6-4 since the return of All-Star guard Ja Morant on Dec. 26, were led by Jaren Jackson Jr.’s 33 points (5 for 6 from 3-point range), nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Desmond Bane had 24 points (5 for 8 from deep), 13 assists and five rebounds, while Marcus Smart had 29 points (8 for 14 from 3-point range) and five assists. Morant had 21 points (3 for 7 from deep) and seven assists, and Ziaire Williams added 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter as the Grizzlies pulled away with a game-ending, 24-10 run.

“We got some pretty good looks,” James said. “They turned us over. I had two critical turnovers, missed four free throws. But we had our chances.”

Reaves finished with 19 points and a career-high 12 assists to go with seven rebounds. Christian Wood added 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.

James hit four 3-pointers without a miss in the first quarter, scoring 14 points. The Grizzlies erased the Lakers’ lead before halftime with nine 3-pointers – including five from Smart, who had missed 16 consecutive 3-point attempts over the past five games before hitting his second try against the Lakers.

“It is what it is … end of the day, they’re NBA players,” James said. “They work on their craft. It seems to happen a lot versus us, where the percentages go the other way. We had our game plan and how we wanted to execute that, and I thought we did that as well as we could. And they made us pay.”

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