LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Memphis Grizzlies surged past the floundering Los Angeles Lakers on Friday, drilling 23 three-pointers to hand LeBron James and company their fourth straight National Basketball Association defeat, 127-113.
Marcus Smart made a season-high eight three-pointers on the way to 29 points and Jaren Jackson Jr. connected on five from beyond the arc as he scored 31.
The Grizzlies, who entered the contest as the worst-shooting team in the league, notched only their second victory in six games.
Desmond Bane scored 24 points and handed out 13 assists, Ja Morant scored 21 and Ziaire Williams added 10 of his 15 in the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies out-scored the Lakers 33-19 to pull away.
James scored 32 points and Anthony Davis added 31, but the Lakers suffered their 10th defeat in 13 games, unable to take advantage of 19 Grizzlies turnovers.
James started strong, making four of four three-point attempts in the first quarter on the way to 14 points. But he and the rest of the Lakers couldn’t match the Grizzlies’ energy in the second half.
Lakers coach Darvin Ham, who found himself fielding questions about his job security before the contest, said there was nothing for the Lakers to do but fight through it.
“It’s a disappointing loss, but we can’t get discouraged,” he said. “I’m disappointed that we’ve lost multiple games now in a row, but it’s only going to make that fire bigger in my chest to try to figure this thing out.”
“That was my message to the team after the game,” Ham added. “We’ve got to fight. We’re going to figure this thing out.”
Elsewhere, conference leaders Boston and Minnesota notched bounce-back victories while in Denver, Paolo Banchero recorded his first career triple-double and drilled the game-winning free-throws in the waning seconds of the Orlando Magic’s 122-120 victory over the reigning champion Nuggets.
Banchero made four free throws in the last 34.6 seconds to seal the Magic’s comeback from an 18-point third-quarter deficit, finishing with 32 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Jamal Murray missed a chance to tie it at the buzzer for the Nuggets, who were coming off their own last-gasp, come-from-behind win over Golden State on Thursday courtesy of Nikola Jokic’s buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Jokic led Denver with 29 points. Michael Porter Jr. added 22, but the Nuggets looked weary on the second night of a back-to-back.
The Warriors, meanwhile, rebounded from their loss to Denver with a 113-109 victory over the lowly Detroit Pistons.
Stephen Curry scored 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to help Golden State avoid another gut-wrenching defeat.
