LeBron James took a back seat, and Anthony Davis gave Lakers fans an injury scare.
Neither mattered as the 7th-seeded Lakers scored a 128-112 Game 1 upset of the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies to take a 1-0 series lead, while Ja Morant left the fourth quarter with an injury.
Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves led the scoring effort for the Lakers while Davis returned after halftime from an apparent shoulder injury sustained in the first half. They closed win with a 15-0 run to cap a dominant second half fueled by red-hot shooting from beyond the arc.
The win continued to reinforce midseason Lakers transactions that resulted in an 18-9 record after the trade deadline to rally from a slow start and secure a playoff spot. The loss was just the seventh of the season at home for Memphis, which finished with a league-best 35-6 home record during the regular season. Morant’s injury becomes the focus in Memphis as the Grizzlies look to avoid an 0-2 hole at home.
Morant left the game after a hard fall on his right wrist late in the fourth quarter. With 5:48 remaining, Morant attacked the basket and fell to the court after making contact with Anthony Davis on an offensive foul. He immediately ran to the locker room.
He returned to the bench before the end of the game with a wrap on his wrist, but he didn’t play again.
The Lakers, meanwhile, followed up a 5-of-18 3-point shooting at halftime with a scorching second half led by Hachimura and Reaves to steal Game 1 on the road. Hachimura, acquired from the Washington Wizards in January, scored a game-high 29 points while shooting 11 of 14 from the field and 5 of 6 from behind the arc. Back-to-back Hachimura 3s helped the Lakers to a 91-85 lead as they notched 37 point in the third quarter.
Reaves joined the outburst in the fourth as the Lakers closed the game with a 32-22 edge in the final stanza that included a 15-0 run in the game’s final minutes.
They survived their own injury scare from Davis, who left the game late in the second half with a shoulder injury. Reaves tallied 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the floor including 3 of 5 from 3-point distance. As a team, the Lakers shot 16 of 37 (43.2%) from beyond the arc, a stark contrast to a team that struggled from long-distance prior to a midseason makeover.
