‘It’s old’: Grizzlies Dillon Brooks rips LeBron James, 38, after chirping at the Lakers star as Memphis beat Los Angeles, 103-93, to make it to the first round, 1-1, without a hit by Ja Morant.
- Xavier Tillman gave the Grizzlies an unexpected boost by scoring a team-high 22 points
- Morant was seen wearing what appeared to be a glove on his injured hand
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A very old LeBron James, says Grizzlies swingman Dillon Brooks, who had a few more words for a future Hall of Famer as Memphis hit its first-round series with Los Angeles on Wednesday night without hitting All-Star Ja Morant.
Brooks, who has had several runs with the Lakers this season, was seen tweeting with James after being drained in the final quarter by a three-pointer on the Los Angeles forward.
“I don’t care,” Brooks said when asked about the exchange. ‘he sold. …I poke bears. I don’t respect anyone “until they come and give me 40”.
James had a solid 28 points on Wednesday, though the Lakers had a 17-point lead with the 38-year-old on the floor in Memphis. Meanwhile, Brooks was only 5-of-14 from the field for 12 points.
As for the rest of the game, Xavier Tillman scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, Desmond Bean added 18, and the Grizzlies tied the first round of the Western Conference series at 1-1 by defeating the Lakers 103-93. Morant was sidelined with an injured hand.
Dillon Brooks (right) had some words for LeBron James (left) after Wednesday’s game
Superstar guard Ja Morant was sat out of the game due to dealing with a right hand injury
Memphis second seed Morant sat out after testing his right hand injury on April 7 in a win in Milwaukee and aggravated the drive to the basket in the opening loss to the Lakers.
He had more tests on his hand before being declared inactive and watched from the bench with his hand bandaged.
Morant’s teammates more than made up for his absence. The Grizzlies drove up to 20 and fans were waving their towels chanting “Whoop That Trick” with 30 seconds left in the series, ensuring a return to Memphis for Game 5.
NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 18 points for Memphis.
Teuss Jones had 10 points and eight assists for Morant. Dillon Brooks added 12 points and Luke Kennard added 13.
Reserve Rui Hachimura was another strong performer with 20 points.
The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 2 of their playoff series
Xavier Tillman gave the Warriors a surprising boost with 22 points to lead the team in victory
Jaren Jackson, Jr. was awarded the DPOY trophy during the preliminary game before recording three blocks
Tyus Jones once again filled out the star lineup for Morant and scored 10 points
Anthony Davis struggled hard after hitting a double double in the opener, going 4 of 14 and finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.
The Lakers, winners of 11 of their previous 13, are on a four-game winning streak.
Now they’re heading home for Game 3 Saturday night after never leading by more than three, and that came in the first points of the game.
Memphis took control in the first quarter 22–8, with consecutive 3s within 10 seconds from rookie David Rohde, then Kennard, who also fouled on a four-point play.
With Bean scoring 10 points, Memphis led 30-19 after the first. Jackson hit his first 3-and-out with 58 seconds left, and the Grizzlies went into the half up 59-44 after outscoring the Lakers 29-25 in the second.
Hachimura scored 11 in the third period and helped the Lakers reduce Memphis’ lead to 66-46 to 73-67.
The Grizzlies finished the quarter on a 10-4 run to push the lead to 83-71 as they moved into the fourth.
Los Angeles never got closer than 94-88 going into the fourth quarter on James’ serve with 3:10 remaining.
Memphis scored five in a row to push it back into double digits.
LeBron James scored 28 points, leading the Lakers in scoring from 12 to 23 from the field
