Lakers player grades: L.A. wins second in a row against Grizzlies

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The Los Angeles Lakers earned a 128-121 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday to stop a recent slide that consisted of four losses in five games. On Sunday, the two teams went at it again at Crypto.com Arena.

Unlike on Friday, when L.A. got off to a strong start, it fell behind early and had to play catch-up for much of the evening. The Grizzlies went on a 10-1 run late in the first quarter and a 26-10 extended run to go up 48-33, and they led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter. But after trailing 65-54 at halftime, the Lakers started to get down to business.

They gradually chipped away at their deficit and finally took the lead with just over seven minutes left in the fourth period. From that point on, they controlled things and pulled away for a 120-114 win.

While their defense and rebounding were poor early on, they cleaned up both categories after halftime. Memphis scored just 49 points in the second half, and for the game, it shot just 42% from the field. The Lakers also attempted 19 more free throws and limited themselves to 11 turnovers, which helped hold Memphis to an anemic 13 fast-break points.

This win improved their record to 22-11, and they jumped two spots in the standings in just one day. They're now in third place in the Western Conference, although they're only half a game ahead of the sixth-place Minnesota Timberwolves.

They will now prepare for back-to-back road games on Tuesday and Wednesday versus the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs, respectively. The Purple and Gold will return home to host Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.

Marcus Smart: D

Smart played well on Friday, but overall, he hasn't been giving the Lakers much offense lately. On Sunday, he shot 1-of-5 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point attempts, and he finished with three points, two rebounds, two steals and no assists in 31 minutes.

Deandre Ayton: B-plus/A-minus

After Friday's game, Lakers coach JJ Redick said that Ayton was likely "frustrated" about not getting enough touches and shot attempts. The team made it a point to get the big man more involved early, and he scored its first basket of the game.

He didn't have a big offensive outing, but he had a respectable one. He made six of his eight shot attempts and scored 15 points, and he got eight rebounds as well. Ayton's defensive effort also improved -- after not blocking a single shot in his last two games and four of his last five, he had three rejections, and his rim protection was particularly solid down the stretch.

In his spare time, he also contributed one assist and one steal.

Jake LaRavia: A

For the second game in a row, LaRavia was a force offensively. He was not only hitting shots consistently, but he was aggressive offensively, and he made a definite imprint on this contest.

He went 9-of-16 from the field and 4-of-10 from 3-point range to score 26 points, and he also had five rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes. He made back-to-back layups just before the seven-minute mark of the fourth quarter to put the Lakers ahead after they trailed for much of the game.

It should be noted that LaRavia spent his first two and a half seasons in the NBA with the Grizzlies until they traded him to the Sacramento Kings midway through last season, so perhaps he had a little more incentive than usual to put up big numbers in these last two contests.

LeBron James: A

James had 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting on Friday. His production dipped a little bit in this game, but he still put up his usual numbers and was a major factor.

After a somewhat quiet first half, he put his foot down and started to assert himself. With Luka Doncic resting for the first 4:10 of the fourth quarter, James scored seven points to cut L.A.'s deficit to one. The 41-year-old ended up with 26 points on 8-of-14 overall shooting and 8-of-10 from the free throw line, to go along with 10 assists, seven rebounds and one steal.

Luka Doncic: A

Doncic scored 15 points in the first quarter to prevent the Lakers from dropping out of contention. Once he returned to the game in the fourth quarter, he was a big reason L.A. pulled away from the Grizzlies. He scored 10 points the rest of the way, and his back-to-back 3-pointers with just over two minutes to go boosted his team's lead from three to nine.

He scored 36 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field and 4-of-10 from 3-point range, and he also had nine rebounds, eight assists and one block. He limited himself to three turnovers, making it the first time he had fewer than four turnovers in a game since Dec. 18.

Jarred Vanderbilt: B/B-plus

In 22 minutes, Vanderbilt was fairly active, allowing him to grab seven rebounds, score seven points on 3-of-7 shooting and add three assists and one block. He missed all four of his 3-point tries, but lately, he has been shooting very well from that distance. In his previous eight games, he made 11 of his 21 attempts from beyond the arc.

Jaxson Hayes: B

Hayes took only one shot attempt and scored just one point in 14 minutes, but he did plenty of good work on the boards. He got six rebounds, with two of them coming on the offensive glass, and three of those rebounds came in the fourth quarter as L.A. turned things around in its favor.

Dalton Knecht: D

Knecht simply hasn't been able to find a good rhythm offensively so far this season. On Sunday, he played 13 minutes and made one of his five shot attempts. He finished with three points, two rebounds, one steal and two turnovers.

Nick Smith Jr.: F

After playing well in three of his last four games, Smith missed all four of his shot attempts on Sunday, and he made no positive statistical contributions in 15 minutes of playing time.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers player grades: L.A. wins second in a row against Grizzlies

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