Another long winning streak

The Los Angeles Lakers secured the solitary top spot with a league-leading 13-2 record on Saturday following a 130-127 close escape over the Oklahoma City Thunder. The defense struggled but the offense came through by hitting a season-high 17 three-pointers. With the victory, the Lake Show has now won six straight games.

LeBron James and his facilitating ways was once again in full display as he dished out a game-high 14 assists. It kept his streak of having 10 or more assists in a game intact, which is now at seven. He’s averaging a double-double on the season, with 24.8 points and 11.2 assists per game.

Anthony Davis didn’t record a block for the first time this season, but he made up for it with an all-around stat line – game-highs 33 points and 11 rebounds, and a season-high seven assists.

Since tomorrow’s game is on the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers may look to ease up the load on their two superstars. Should James and Davis indeed take a step back, we may see more plays for Kyle Kuzma, who also needs to establish a rhythm soon. Kuzma’s starting slow on the season because of a foot and eye injury suffered in the past few months. His limited minutes, however, have been more productive often, as he’s putting up 21.2 points per 36 minutes.

Back-to-back blowout losses

The 5-9 Memphis Grizzlies have been dominated in their last two games, both of which at home, suffering 17 and 19 point losses to the Utah Jazz and the West-bottoming Golden State Warriors, respectively.

In the first meeting against the Lakers weeks back, the Grizzlies also got overwhelmed, 120-91, where they gave up 22 answered points in the second half. Their 32.6% shooting from the floor was also the worst in the NBA this season

Ja Morant

Still, the Grizzlies are packing quite a weapon in their explosive first-year point guard, Ja Morant, whose 18.5 points and 6.0 assists per game on the season leads all rookies. He’s a fearless, no non-sense player that should be able to provide a headache opposite a Laker defense that has been having issues with such guards. Morant has scored 20 or more points in three of his last four outings and LA’s defense will know that this Morant is more assertive than the one they faced three weeks prior.

PREDICTION:

This will be a competitive game all throughout, with the Grizzlies taking advantage of a tired Lakers team. In the end, however, Davis will be able to carry the Lake Show into a close win.