Getty Austin Reaves guards Desmond Bane
After the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 on April 26, Desmond Bane said the Grizzlies would win Game 6 in Los Angeles to force a Game 7 back in Memphis.
“I said it out there and I’ll say it again,” Bane said during his postgame press conference. “We are going to be back for a Game 7 in front of the best fans in the NBA.”
The Grizzlies need to win Game 6 at Crypto.com Arena to save their season. They lost Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, but Game 4 went into overtime, so Memphis has proven it can compete at a high level on the road.
Bane has been spectacular against the Lakers in this series. He’s averaging 25.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 44.0% from the field, 31.8% from beyond the arc and 96.0% from the free-throw line. Bane has scored 30 points in back-to-back games, so the Lakers will have to find a way to slow him down in Game 6 if they want to end the series and advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
LeBron James: I Played Like Sh*t in Game 5
Lakers superstar LeBron James had a poor Game 5. The four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five turnovers while shooting 5-of-17 from the floor, 1-of-9 from 3 and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
“Tonight, I was sh*t,” James said after Game 5. “And I’ll be better in Game 6.”
James is averaging 22.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists in the series. However, he’s shooting just 16.7% from 3-point range. “The King” has to hit some 3s in Game 6 for the Lakers to win at home and Anthony Davis is confident James will figure out a way to play better.
“He got the most points scored ever,” Davis said about James after the Lakers lost Game 5. “Greatest basketball player ever to touch the court. So I mean, it’s fine. He’ll be fine. He’ll adjust. He’ll get better. Our team will get better and we try to look at Friday (Game 6) as another opportunity to end the series.”
Jeanie Buss Is ‘Proud’ of the Lakers
Lakers controlling owner and president Jeanie Buss told Natasha Dye of PEOPLE that she’s very “proud” of this year’s team. The purple and gold made the postseason after starting the season 2-10.
“I’m proud of this Lakers team this season,” Buss said. “We started off poorly, and it would’ve been easy to give up. These guys committed to each other and really came in the second half of the season and made a nice playoff push, which is really what the fans want. They made that sacrifice for the greater good, for the team, and they’ve accomplished a lot because of that.”
James signed a two-year, $97.1 million extension with the Lakers last summer. Buss told Sam Amick of The Athletic after James signed his extension that “it is a big vote of confidence when LeBron James signs a two-year extension.”
“It is a big vote of confidence when LeBron James signs a two-year extension, when he had many months to do so (he had until June 30, 2023, to sign this deal),” Buss said. “And you know, it was a priority to us. It’s a priority to the Laker brand that he retire a Laker.”