Getty Ja Morant and LeBron James
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James had a lot of praise for Memphis Grizzlies All-Star Ja Morant after the purple and gold won Game 3.
“That boy is good,” James said. “He’s good. I mean, he’s so good at attacking the rim that you wanna try and keep bodies in front of him, make him try to live on the perimeter. Well, tonight he made six 3s. So once a guy gets going from the outside, then he can do whatever he wants offensively. So our mindset, if they were gonna score, we gotta continue to score. We gotta continue to put pressure on their defense, but when great players get it going, it’s nothing that you can do. You can run off 20. You can run off 30. You can run off, I don’t know, 29 out of 30. You can’t stop it.”
Morant was unstoppable in Game 3. The 23-year-old poured in 45 points and 13 assists while shooting 13-of-26 from the field, 6-of-10 from beyond the arc and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line in 42 minutes. Morant torched the Lakers despite playing with an injured right hand, but Los Angeles got the final laugh by winning by a final score of 111-101 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
LeBron James: I Didn’t Make a Statement
Grizzlies guard Dillon Brooks called James “old” after Game 2. He also said “The King” is “not at the same level as he was when he was in Cleveland and winning championships in Miami.” James, who is one of the best players in NBA history, told reporters after Game 3 that he didn’t have to make a statement in response to Brooks’ comments.
“I’ve been doing this too long. I’ve made enough statements,” James said. “No. We had an opportunity to come home and play well on our home floor and we did that. No statement was made. We just wanted to play well and got a win and we want to try to do that in Game 4 as well.
James, 38, finished with 25 points, nine rebounds and five assists in the Game 3 win. The four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP shot 10-of-20 overall and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
“At the end of the day, I think my résumé and what I’ve done for this league speaks for itself,” James said. “I don’t really get caught up in any comments like that. Like I continue to say, at the end of the day, my focus is to my teammates and us trying to figure out a way how we can beat the Memphis Grizzlies, not how I can try to beat an individual on their team. If anybody knows me, they should know that’s what I’ve always been about. That’s all that matters.”
Anthony Davis Played Well in Game 3
Lakers big man Anthony Davis had a terrific Game 3 after playing poorly in Game 2. The Chicago native put up 31 points and 17 rebounds.
“Didn’t like my performance in Game 2,” Davis said. “And I just had to be better overall. The aggressiveness picked up, wasn’t waiting for double teams. I was just trying to go quick and make them adjust to me instead of adjusting to them and just make the right reads out of it.”
James, Davis and the Lakers will look to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series in Game 4, which is on April 24.