Category: Basketball

If Saturday felt like a big game, the crowd booming while the music thumped in the fourth quarter, it’s because the teams treated it like one with the final two weeks of the season on their doorstep.

Pushing to the finish line, both the Lakers and the Grizzlies needed some momentum. The Lakers were coming off a heartbreaking loss at the buzzer in Chicago and Memphis was playing its first game after firing longtime coach Taylor Jenkins in a surprise move.

And once the regular season ends, it's very possible the Lakers and the Grizzlies will meet in the first round of the playoffs for the second time in three years.

Read more:Lakers crumble in stunner, losing to Bulls on Josh Giddey's half-court shot at buzzer

An early lead didn’t matter much, the Grizzlies quickly catching up in a game where neither team could ever stop the other.

But in the fourth quarter, Dorian Finney-Smith fought off Zach Edey and Jaren Jackson Jr. for rebounds. Luka Doncic slid his feet to stay in front of Desmond Bane. LeBron James cleaned the glass and Austin Reaves crashed into the paint and put Memphis away with a three-point play, stamping it with an animated air punch.

If there was any emotional damage done by Josh Giddey’s half-court buzzer-beater or James’ late-game gaffes against the Bulls, it never showed, the Lakers fighting off the Grizzlies in a 134-127 win.

“I said before the game that we'll be ready to play. ... I'm not surprised at how hard we played and how well we played tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I made sure the group knew that I believed still, and that the coaching staff believed and they were resolute in their belief in this team.”

The Lakers’ three stars turned in high-impact games to end their road trip with a win. Reaves had 31 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Doncic had 29 points, eight rebounds and nine assists, and James scored 25 to go with six rebounds and eight assists.

Redick met with his three stars Saturday morning in an effort to improve how his three stars work together. Against the Grizzlies, the trio dominated.

“I think the meeting was just still trying to build that chemistry amongst the three of us to help the team be successful,” Reaves said. “And I think tonight it just showed that when we play the right way and trust one another, especially offensively, we can have open looks on almost every possession.”

Read more:Team LeBron or Team Stephen A? Charles Barkley and others weigh in on the heated feud

Bane scored 29 points, Jackson had 24 points and Ja Morant, playing for the first time in two weeks, had 22 points for Memphis (44-30). The Lakers made stops when necessary and never got flustered by Memphis making shots.

“You're not gonna play a perfect game,” Reaves said. “But late game, you had to be really locked in to what you were trying to do and I felt like we did that tonight. Obviously, giving up, like you said, 127, it's not how many points we want to give up. So, obviously, we can do better. But when we needed it, we got stops.”

The Lakers got key contributions from their role players, Gabe Vincent making four threes and Rui Hachimura and Finney-Smith each making three as well.

“I think we can get all wide-open shots every time,” Hachimura said.

It’s the third time this season the Lakers (45-29) have beaten the Grizzlies, assuring them of any tiebreaker between the teams in the tight Western Conference playoff race.

And as far as the Grizzlies’ energy was after replacing their coach, Vincent said the Lakers couldn’t afford to concentrate on its impact.

“I feel like we were desperate for a win, so I didn't really give a damn about how they were,” he said.

Saturday’s win pushed the Lakers a game ahead of Memphis for the No. 4 seed in the West. The Lakers host No. 2 Houston on Monday.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Drew Timme scored the go-ahead basket on a cutting layup with 7.7 seconds left and the Brooklyn Nets beat the NBA-worst Washington Wizards 115-112 on Saturday night to end a six-game losing streak.

After Timme — playing his second NBA game after signing with the Nets on Friday — gave Brooklyn a 113-112 lead, Washington’s Colby Jones threw the ball out of bounds, and Jalen Wilson hit two free throws to finish the scoring.

Wilson and Tyrese Martin each scored 20 points to help the Nets — 2-9 in their last 11 and 3-16 in their last 19 — avoid a season sweep against the Wizards. Timme finished with 19 points, and Cam Johnson added 18.

Jones and AJ Johnson each had 20 points for Washington. The Wizards were coming off the most-lopsided loss in franchise history, a 162-109 drubbing against Indiana on Thursday night.

Takeaways

Nets: Timme was 9 for 14 from the field and had six rebounds and three assists in about 29 minutes. On Friday at home in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, he had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes to become the fifth player in franchise history with a double-double in his NBA debut. The former Gonzaga player averaged 23.0 points in 29 games this season for Long Island in the NBA G League.

Wizards: Washington overcame terrible three-point shooting with 20 first-half free throws to take a 59-51 lead into the break. The Wizards were 1 of 13 on threes in the half, while the Nets went 10 of 30. Brooklyn had 14 fouls in the half.

Key moment

Timme scored the go-ahead basket, with JT Thor called for goaltending.

Key stat

Cam Johnson also had nine rebounds and seven assists.

Up next

Both teams play Monday night. The Nets are at Dallas, and the Wizards host Miami.