No Ja Morant? No problem for the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night as they, essentially, controlled their matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers for all four quarters to even their best-of-seven series at 1-1 with a 103-93 victory. Thanks largely in part to a standout performance from Xavier Tillman, who finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds on 10-13 shooting, Memphis was able to pick up a big win and hold off a late run by LeBron James and the Lakers.
Now, these two teams will have another extended break with Game 3 in Los Angeles coming on Saturday. If Morant is healthy enough to go at that point, the Grizzlies could have a real opportunity to retake control of this series with a win on the road. If LeBron James is the only Lakers player who is efficient from the floor on Saturday, as Anthony Davis and D'Angelo Russell both struggled from the field tonight, it could be an uphill battle for Los Angeles if they want to take a 2-1 series lead.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from Game 2.
1. Ancient shot-selection
The Lakers largely won Game 1 of this series from behind the arc. After starting the game 5-of-20 from deep, they proceeded to shoot 11-of-17 the rest of the way. It was, in part, a response to the defense the Grizzlies were playing. They helped off of just about every Laker shooter, and those shooters went on to punish them for it. The Grizzlies even acknowledged it after the game and effectively dared the Lakers to do it again.
Well, when the dust settled on Game 2, the Lakers had attempted only 26 3-pointers. At the trade deadline, they reshaped their entire supporting cast around the idea that LeBron James—especially in his 20th season—desperately needed more shooting around him. Yet on Wednesday, James attempted eight of their 26 3-pointers. That's over 30% of their total. The supporting cast that was added to shoot refused to even fire away.
The Grizzlies deserve some credit for that. They were more disciplined defensively, especially when it came to sticking to shooters. But the Memphis defense is still clearly oriented toward rim protection. Time and time again, a Laker drove into traffic, desperately tried to pass out of it, and turned the ball over in the process. In Game 1, the Lakers shot through the misses are were rewarded for it with a second-half explosion. That has to be their approach moving forward. They aren't beating the Defensive Player of the Year in the paint.
2. Tillman is the man
Jaren Jackson Jr. has been the best overall Grizzlies player in this series. There's an obvious solution that: let Anthony Davis defend him. The Lakers have largely avoided that matchup. Defending Jackson is a full-time job. Stick Davis on a lesser player, though, and he can give most of his attention to playing help defense. That's how he's racked up 12 blocks in two games. That lesser player, for the most part, has been Xavier Tillman.
Here's the twist: Tillman wasn't a lesser player on Wednesday. He was the leading scorer for the Grizzlies with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting. To some extent, that was unavoidable. Tillman made four 3-pointers this season. If he wants to fire away from deep, guarding him would be irresponsible. But Davis needed to do a better job of balancing his help responsibilities with the man he was actually meant to guard. When he wasn't on Tillman, the rest of the team was even worse.
Right now, the Lakers are a small team. LeBron James is their backup center. That makes them vulnerable against just about any big man if his team is good enough at getting him the ball. That was the case on Wednesday, and it helped swing the game back to Memphis.
3. One-way players
The Lakers seemingly did the impossible at the trade deadline when they managed to turn Russell Westbrook and only a single first-round pick into three usable role players: D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt. The reason this group cost only a single first-round pick? They are explicitly one-way players. Russell and Beasley play offense. Vanderbilt plays defense.
You can get away with having one-way players if they're actually thriving on the end of the floor they were acquired for. Things get a lot harder when they don't. The Grizzlies hunted D'Angelo Russell on almost every possession down the stretch. The idea was to get him isolated onto Desmond Bane, who frequently turned those matchups into free throws or good shots. If Russell had been making shots? The Lakers could've managed that weakness. But he shot 2-of-11 in Game 2. He wasn't helping on either end of the floor, and that was almost impossible for the Lakers to overcome when he played 30 total minutes.
There are moments when the same is true of Vanderbilt. When Ja Morant is healthy, Vanderbilt is a necessity in this series. He's the only Laker that can reliably stick with him defensively. Vanderbilt still played well defensively on Wednesday, but he wasn't as essential, and he cramped the Lakers' spacing. In the end, more Rui Hachimura might've been necessary.
There are teams that need to stick with rigid rotations. Certain players are more comfortable doing so, and there are rosters designed to stick with the same players every night. The Lakers have to be flexible. A player's flaws can only kill you when that player is actually on the floor. If Russell or Vanderbilt isn't justifying their minutes on one of the floor, then they might need to go to the bench for most of the night so the Lakers can lean on the players who are actually playing well.