Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

The Grizzlies took the floor Wednesday in Memphis for Game 2 of the first round series against the Lakers without star guard Ja Morant. They've played well without him, but given how shorthanded the Grizzlies already are without Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke, it provided Los Angeles with a primo opportunity to steal a second game in Memphis and return to LA for Game 3 with a 2-0 series lead.

Man, did the Lakers squander that chance.

Save a couple players (if this was some kind of hoops version of Top Chef, only LeBron James and Rui Hachimura would be safe from elimination), nobody on the Lakers played anything approaching a genuinely good game. A few were average, a few too many were bad. Particularly D'Angelo Russell (2-11) and Anthony Davis, who while providing some real presence defensively for much of the game was a total no-show on the other end. 4-14 shooting, with a couple of turnovers.

That's just not good enough. But more than any single individual performance, it's the energy and effort the Lakers opened with that was particularly disappointing. Credit Memphis with a spirited effort, but the Grizzlies weren't all that great, either. They didn't get uncharacteristically brilliant performances from their frontline players. They shot 42% from the field, and 30% from 3-point range. They just played harder than the Lakers, and with more attention to detail.

How much will this game ultimately haunt the Lakers? We'll see.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: The Lakers blow a big opportunity to put a hammer lock on the series.

SEGMENT 2: Did anybody show up for LA on Wednesday? Davis and Russell were particularly bad.

SEGMENT 3: Any concern going forward about the guys who didn't play well? Russell in particular, who had a bad play-in game, too?

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