Lakers News

LeBron James gives brutally honest assessment of his performance in Lakers-Grizzlies Game 5

Published by
Zach Stevens

The Los Angeles Lakers came into Game 5 against the Memphis Grizzlies looking to win the series. Instead, they fell in a 116-99 blowout.

LeBron James had a very poor outing, shooting just 5-of-17 from the field and committing five turnovers, and he was brutally honest about how he played while promising to put forth a better performance in Game 6.

James played 45 minutes in L.A.’s Game 4 overtime win, and fatigue seems to be an issue with him recently. On Wednesday, he wasn’t the force he usually is off the dribble. He took a lot of outside shots, but he couldn’t get it done in that department, as he missed all but one of his nine 3-point attempts.

The Lakers trailed for most of the game, and although they made a run early in the third quarter to come to within one point, they simply didn’t have a great chance of actually pulling ahead and building a lead with James playing well beneath his standards.

Anthony Davis, who had a bad outing in Game 4, was dominant from start to finish with 31 points and 19 rebounds, but no one else was a consistent offensive threat for Los Angeles.

On the other side, Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, the Grizzlies’ talented starting backcourt, played outstanding ball, scoring 31 and 33 points, respectively. Both of them also came down with 10 rebounds each. The Lakers simply couldn’t find a way to contain either of them, even after holding Morant down very well in Game 4.

The series will now move back to Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles for Game 6, which will take place on Friday, and it has suddenly gotten a lot more interesting.

While the Lakers are the early favorites to win and put the series away, another win by the Grizzlies could tip the scales in their favor for Game 7, especially if James has another subpar game on the road in Tennessee with the series up for grabs.

Zach Stevens

Zach has always had a profound love and respect for the Lakers that has inspired him to write about the franchise. He has a great deal of admiration for LeBron James, and his overall knowledge about the NBA has made him a solid addition to the Lakers Daily staff.

Published by
Zach Stevens

Recent Posts

5-time NBA champion says ‘no real fans care’ about Lakers’ success in NBA Cup

The Los Angeles Lakers have started their NBA Cup schedule off on the right foot…

November 21, 2024

LeBron makes stunning announcement as he takes step back on social media

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James uploaded a screenshot of a social media post on…

November 20, 2024

Private message revealed that Austin Reaves sent Dalton Knecht before they knew they’d be teammates

Los Angeles Lakers players Austin Reaves and Dalton Knecht were familiar with one another before…

November 20, 2024

Iman Shumpert says LeBron ruined today’s game by forming superteams

The proliferation of superteams in the NBA arguably became normalized once LeBron James teamed up…

November 19, 2024

Shaq says he’ll fight Dwight Howard under certain conditions

Dwight Howard has a compelling case to one day be enshrined in the Naismith Memorial…

November 18, 2024

Report: J.J. Redick admires Serbian coaching, wants to send sons to go to basketball camp there

There are several productive players in the NBA right now who grew up in the…

November 18, 2024