The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs (4 wins from 7 matches), returning after two seasons, and succeeded in overtaking them.
The Lakers won 128-112 against Memphis in the first round of the 2022-23 NBA Western Conference playoffs held at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, USA on the 17th (Korean time).
After finishing the regular season in 7th place (43-39), the Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in the play-in tournament to advance to the playoffs as the 7th seed. And, by catching the first match against No. 2 seed Memphis, the prelude to ‘Underdog’s Rebellion’ was announced.
On this day, the Lakers caught Memphis with the score distribution evenly distributed by the main players. Rui Hachimura scored 29 points, the most on the team, and LeBron James (21 points, 11 rebounds) and Anthony Davis (22 points, 12 rebounds) also recorded double doubles, taking the lead in the win. Austin Reeves (23 points) and D’Angelo Russell (19 points) also scored in double digits.먹튀검증
After trailing 59-65 in the first half, the Lakers launched a counterattack with Hachimura at the forefront in the second half. Hachimura led the reversal by scoring 12 points, including four 3-pointers in the third quarter alone, and the Lakers finished the third quarter with a 96-90 lead.
But Memphis wasn’t easy either. Jaren Jackson Jr.’s consecutive goals led to a one-point lead, 113-112, with 3 minutes and 11 seconds left in the game.
But the Lakers had Reeves. Reeves immediately put in a 3-point shot to widen the score gap and scored 7 points in a row to run away with 120-112. From this point on, the flow of the game completely leaned towards the Lakers, and Davis and Hachimura added a score and nailed it.
In Memphis, Jaren Jackson Jr. (31 points), Desmond Bain (22 points), and Ja Morant (18 points) played an active role, but fell to their knees due to lack of support. In particular, Memphis ace Morant was injured during the fourth quarter. It was unclear whether or not to play in the next game, so Memphis had to play the second game with a big power loss.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference, the 5th seed Los Angeles Clippers reported their first win, beating the 4th seed Phoenix Suns 115-110.
The Clippers led the victory with main gun Kawhi Leonard scoring 38 points, the most for both teams. In addition, Eric Gordon (19 points) and Norman Powell (14 points) added strength.
In the first matchup against the West No. 1 seed Denver Nuggets and the No. 8 seed Minnesota, Denver won comfortably, 109-80.
In the Eastern Conference, the 8th seed Miami Heat created a stir by beating the 1st seed Milwaukee Bucks 130-117.
Ace Jimmy Butler made a big success with 35 points and 11 assists, while Bam Adebayo (22 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists) and Kevin Love (18 points and 8 rebounds) took the lead in the victory. However, during the match, Tyler Hiro suffered a fracture and suffered a major bad news, and he could not laugh at the victory.