LOS ANGELES — LeBron James did what he could Sunday, trying to push the Lakers’ winning streak to a notable number while sticking it to the upstart Memphis Grizzlies.
Unfortunately for James, he had almost no help.
The Lakers’ starters sputtered amid a stalled offense in the Grizzlies’ 127-119 victory that wasn’t as close as the final score showed at Crypto.com Arena.
James scored 35 points and broke the 30-point barrier for the 10th time in the last 11 games. That’s where the Lakers’ highlights ended until a late run by their backups.
In fact, a stunning 21-0 push forced the Grizzlies to quickly insert their starters back into the game as their lead shrunk to seven with a minute left.
The Lakers couldn’t pull out the victory. Their deficit was too large.
“Obviously, tonight wasn’t one of our better nights,” James said.
James outscored the other four Lakers starters by 13 points, a telling stat for a team still seeking an identity.
The Lakers’ ragged shooting numbers were strewn across the stat sheet.
Russell Westbrook made only two of 12 shots. Malik Monk cooled off with a three-for-13 effort. Avery Bradley was two for 10 as the Lakers’ modest four-game winning streak came to an end.
To be fair, the streak was built against teams with losing records. Memphis was supposed to be a good test.
The Grizzlies led by 29 in the third quarter, won a franchise-record ninth consecutive game and continued to be the opposite of the Lakers this season — young, high-flying and consistent winners.
Case in point: Memphis had 29 fast-break points, the Lakers only four.
Memphis (28-14) is fourth in the Western Conference and now holds the tiebreaker with the Lakers thanks to a 3-1 record in the season series.
The Lakers (21-20), meanwhile, got sucked back toward .500 and remained firmly in seventh place in the West with the NBA’s third-hardest schedule looming the rest of the way.
Grizzlies guard Ja Morant had 15 points, seven assists and two eye-opening plays — one on offense and the other on defense.
His high-flying two-handed blocked shot of Avery Bradley’s layup attempt drew gasps from the pro-Lakers crowd in the first half. His well-above-the-rim alley-oop dunk in the third quarter drew another chorus of disbelief from fans. It also gave the Grizzlies a 73-56 lead.
The blocked shot caught James’ attention.
“It starts with timing and also just stalking your prey. That’s exactly what Ja was doing that whole play,” James said, adding that Morant had “rockets in his calf muscles.”
James tried to keep the Lakers in the game. He made 14 of 19 shots and added nine rebounds and seven assists. He also passed Oscar Robertson for seventh on the NBA’s all-time assist list.
James made 74% of his shots. The other four Lakers starters made only eight of 39 attempts (21%).
Rookie Austin Reaves scored 16 points and sparked the Lakers’ late run. He pointed to the 25-point differential in fast-break points as the toughest barrier to overcome.
“That’s a good start right there,” Reaves told. Spectrum SportsNet. “There was a lot of things. You chalk this one up to a bad loss and you move forward.”
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