Austin Reaves was one of the stars for the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies with his clutch performance down the stretch to ensure the win. But Game 2 was a bit more of a struggle for Reaves and most of the Lakers offensively for that matter.
Reaves finished with just 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, though he did add five rebounds and four assists. But the Lakers managed just 93 points on the night as they fell to the Grizzlies in Game 2, tying the series at 1-1.
The Grizzlies were able to tie the series without star point guard Ja Morant, but Reaves noted how Memphis has proven over the past couple of seasons that they are more than capable without their star, adding that they played harder than the Lakers on Wednesday night, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“You go back to last year and you look at their record without Ja [Morant] … this year I think they’re a little worse like 11-10 or something like that so they’ve proved in the last two years that they play really good basketball with and without him. We knew it was gonna be a challenge and like I said, they were desperate and they played harder than us. But we feel like we got a good opportunity regardless of who we’re playing.”
The Lakers started slow against the Grizzlies and were never able to completely recover, despite a run in the third quarter. Reaves credited Jarred Vanderbilt for bringing the energy out of the half to help spark the run:
“I think it was just effort coming out of half. Vando was big on the offensive glass, getting extra possessions and really just playing hard. And that’s all it comes down to is just matching their energy. With the talent that we have you’re never really out of a game, we just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch.”
The Lakers would get as close as six points with three minutes remaining, but Memphis would outplay them down the stretch and put things away for good. Now, the Lakers head back home having taken home-court advantage and Reaves is looking forward to playing in front of the home fans:
“It’s Game 3 in the playoffs. We come down here we obviously got Game 1 so it put us in a good position. Wish we would’ve got tonight, but it’s the nature of the game, you win some, you lose some. It’ll be nice to get back to L.A. and play in front of our crowd and that atmosphere.”
There is no doubt it will be electric inside the building on Saturday night and hopefully the Lakers can use that energy to help them take back control of the series.
Darvin Ham believes Lakers were lethargic in Game 2, but happy with split
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham echoed the sentiments of many of his players including Reaves in feeling the team just didn’t have the energy needed in Game 2. Ham called his team lethargic and lamented their turnovers hurting them early on.
But despite that, Ham is still happy with the Lakers coming into Memphis and taking a game from the Grizzlies, who had the best home record in the NBA adding that now they have to head back and defend their home court.
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