The Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to advance past the first round of the playoffs and send the Memphis Grizzlies packing for the summer by winning Game 5 of their first-round series on Wednesday.
They put themselves in this position by winning a low-scoring, hard-fought Game 4 in overtime, 117-111, despite trailing by seven midway through the fourth quarter.
It is axiomatic in the NBA that the toughest game to win in a playoff series is the final one that would end it. Los Angeles will have its work cut out for it because Game 5 will take place in Memphis, where the Grizzlies were a league-best 35-6 in the regular season.
But it should be a very winnable contest for the Lakers, and these three keys could spell a series victory for them.
Continue to contain Ja Morant
This has not been a good series for the Grizzlies’ best player. He scored 18 points and committed six turnovers in Game 1 while aggravating a hand injury that caused him to miss Game 2. In Game 4, he managed 19 points on 8-of-24 shooting while committing four turnovers.
But he had a shining moment in Game 3, when he burst forth with 45 points, nine rebounds and 13 assists. Twenty-four of his points came in the fourth quarter on 9-of-12 from the field.
The Lakers will need to continue to limit Morant’s forays into the paint, especially in transition and off pick-and-rolls. Forward Jarred Vanderbilt’s length seems to have bothered him, and they will likely live with him relying on outside shots, even if he does get hot from that distance, as he did in Game 4.
Do not fall behind
One should expect the Grizzlies to come out like a pack of wounded animals at the start of Game 5. They will be desperate and have their home crowd behind them.
If Los Angeles cannot punch them in the mouth, so to speak, and get off to a solid early lead, they must at least keep things close. It must make sure it does not fall behind by more than five points so that at some point in the contest, it can go on that one sizable run that could put it on top and make the Grizzlies and their fans apprehensive.
In Game 2, the Lakers fell behind by as many as 20 points after Memphis got off to an early lead, and although they cut that lead to six in the fourth quarter, they were simply too far behind to have any real shot at winning.
Killer instinct
Technically speaking, the Lakers do not need to win Game 5. If they lose, they could close things out in Game 6 back in Los Angeles, and that type of outcome would look OK in retrospect.
But they shouldn’t settle for such an outcome, as anything can happen when a team gives its opponent life instead of closing out its opponent out as soon as possible.
The Lakers need to maintain the same intensity, aggressiveness, urgency and grit they had in the last two games, especially in the early stages of Game 3. They need to push the ball as much as possible in order to overcome a Memphis defense that ranked third in efficiency during the regular season, and also in order to try to get Anthony Davis going early by getting him some easy baskets.
They cannot have even one ounce of complacency or comfort, especially given how chippy and feisty this Grizzlies team is.
