Play.
Ja Morant had a 41-point night.
Ja Morant went off for a 41-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead the Grizzles to a 104-99 win over the Lakers. The song is called "2:51."
1:05 AM
Ja Morant nearly outproduced the Lakers on his own down the stretch in Memphis' 104-99 home win on Wednesday, as the Lakers were seemingly in control, up by 13 late in the third quarter.
Morant scored 16 of his 41 points in the third quarter, when Memphis pushed their lead to 37-19.
"When you shoot the ball as well as he did tonight from the perimeter, with his speed and his athleticism, it's gonna be hard to contain a guy like that because he's doing the whole three levels of scoring," said James, whose 37 points, including eight 3-pointers There's nothing you can do. He has you at his phone.
It was the second time this season that Morant had scored 40 points against the Lakers.
He shot 13-for-27 from the field, including 6-for-7 from 3-point range, and was 9-for-12 from the free throw line.
He scored 16 points in a row in the second quarter and early third for the Grizzlies, and that was just as impressive as his final flourish.
"He got his rhythm when he went to the free throw line and saw the ball go in, after we started fouling, man," Monk said. There's not much you can do when a guy is going like that.
The Lakers could not get back to.500 after a win at Houston on Tuesday because of Memphis' comeback. With Memphis gaining ground on the No. 4 seed, L.A. is looking at the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.
"Obviously, Ja, what an unbelievable night by him, the tone he was setting throughout the game, it was unbelievable," said Taylor Jenkins. "When he got going, it kind of fueled everyone else, and we kind of just broke loose there in the third quarter."
The Lakers had 18 turnovers, which led to 21 points for the Grizzlies, and Morant had six turnovers, including three in the fourth quarter.
James had five turnovers, which marring his sixth straight 30-point effort, and Russell Westbrook had five turnovers, which diminished the impact of his third straight triple-double (16 points, 12 assists, 10 rebound).
"We understand that we have a lot of attackers, but the careless turnovers where you just turn the ball over, there's no pressure or reason for it, those are the ones that get us in trouble," James said.
The Lakers were trailing by 3 when James threw the ball away, denying L.A. the chance to make a game of it.
The Lakers acting coach David Fizdale said that the turnovers and the one more play were the ones that hurt them the most.
The blame for the Lakers' losses this season has been shifted by Westbrook. He said the difference between L.A. closing out the Rockets in the fourth quarter on Tuesday and failing to secure the win against the Grizzlies a night later came down to shot selection.
The Lakers went 1-for-5 from 3 in the fourth in Houston. They shot 7-for-20 in the final frame in Memphis, including a 2-for-10 mark from 3, where James accounted for a 2 for 6 mark, with the rest of the team going 0-for-4.
"You can watch the tale of the two and see where our shots come from," he said. "Not much in the paint."
