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 Forward P.J. Hairston scored 21 points and Carter had 15 of his 19
points in the first half, and the Grizzles rolled past the Lakers
112-95 on Friday night at Staples Center.
Point guard Mike Conley had 17 points and seven assists as six
Memphis players reached double figures in scoring. Center Zach
Randolph added 15 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, guard Lance
Stephenson contributed 14 points and seven rebounds, and forward
JaMychal Green chipped in 10 points for the Grizzlies (34-23), who
dropped the Lakers for the eighth consecutive time.
"I don't know, just locked in, trying to do whatever I can do for
the team," said Carter of his first-half performance, when he
connected on all five of his 3-pointers, four of those occurring in
the second quarter. Carter finished by making seven of 10 shots from
the floor and five of seven 3-pointers.
"The one thing that we're doing a great job of is sharing the ball,
we're making the game easy for each other," Carter said. "We have a
lot of guys here who can score, a lot of guys who can shoot the
ball. And of course we have (Randolph) establishing himself down on
the blocks."
Point guard D'Angelo Russell led the Lakers (11-49), losers of eight
in a row, with 22 points. Forward Julius Randle finished with 17
points and seven rebounds, while guard Lou Williams scored 13
points.
Lakers forward Kobe Bryant missed the contest with a sore right
shoulder. The Grizzles played without guard Tony Allen, who had a
sore left knee.
On Wednesday, the Grizzles earned a 128-119 win over Los Angeles at
Memphis behind a season-high 25 points by former Laker and Memphis
forward Matt Barnes. This game, though, was practically over before
intermission.
"What we did differently from the previous game is we did a much
better job on defense, getting the rebounds and pushing the ball,
getting easy buckets," said Conley, who had a plus-29 rating in
almost 29 minutes of playing time. "I thought that we gave them too
many second-chance opportunities at home a few days ago. Tonight, we
were able to clamp that down a little and do a better job
defensively."
Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson scored the game's first bucket, but Los
Angeles never led again. Memphis held a 32-25 advantage after one
quarter and coasted to a 67-50 at the break.
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"I just didn't think we competed like we're capable," Lakers coach
Byron Scott said. "I thought also that obviously when (Bryant) is
not there, I really saw tonight the lack of leadership that we do
have. Everybody's holding their head down when things aren't going
right, and most of it is when we are missing shots."
Memphis shot 50.6 percent to 41 percent for Los Angeles. The
Grizzlies hit 13 of 32 3-pointers (40.6 percent) compared to five of
23 (21.7 percent) for the Lakers.
Shooting wasn't the only reason the Lakers got blow out of their
building.
"Just not on the same page," said Russell, who had a solid outing on
6-of-9 shooting, hitting both of the 3-pointers he attempted. "It's
obvious we're not on the same page. You could say it or I could say
it, it's just obvious we're not on the same page."
Added Scott: "You have to give them credit, they made shots. They
were hot, but we also helped them by not closing out the way we are
capable of closing out and getting to guys the way we should have
gotten to them."
NOTES: With the Lakers off until Tuesday's contest against the
Brooklyn Nets at Staples Center, F Kobe Bryant will essentially have
had a week to rest his ailing shoulder. "I think the next couple of
days is just trying to get the (shoulder) as manageable as
possible," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "Hopefully, he'll feel no
pain going into the next two games. Other than that, he does a real
good job of taking care of himself, so that's nothing we really
worry about." Los Angeles will follow the Brooklyn game with a visit
to Denver to play the Nuggets on Wednesday. ... The Grizzlies ranked
first in the NBA in total turnover differential (minus-174) entering
the contest. ... The Lakers and Grizzlies will meet in their final
regular-season game March 22 at Staples. ... Memphis visits the
Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
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