Lakers vs. Grizzlies Preview and Game Thread: Battle for fourth seed

With both teams currently sporting the same record, the Lakers and Grizzlies will fight for the fourth seed on Saturday.

The Lakers’ current four-game road trip will conclude at Memphis, where they will take on the Grizzlies. With both teams having nine games left, this is an extremely important contest regarding playoff implications.

It’s also the last the last time these two reams see each other in the regular season as L.A. currently holds the tiebreaker.

Start time and TV schedule

Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Memphis Grizzlies

When: 5 PDT, Mar 29

Where: Fedex Forum

Watch: Spectrum SportsNet

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The Lakers’ most recent lost to the Chicago Bulls was so unbelievably bad that it’s still hard to get over. That was clearly the worst loss of the season and it had to happen at a time when Los Angeles could’ve used a victory to strengthen their push up in the standings.

Now, they have a record of 44-29, which is the exact same as the Grizzlies, who are currently sitting at the fifth seed because the purple and gold have the tiebreaker. That also means this game becomes even more important if the Lakers want to retain home court advantage come playoff time.

Maybe retaining home court is not as important on their priority list as getting to the postseason healthy but still, a win would be nice just because this could be a preview of a first round playoff matchup. A dub would also increase L.A.’s chances to avoid the play-in tournament, which they’re not safe from being in since they’ve lost six of their last 10 games. The Western Conference standing race right now is extremely tight.

On Saturday, the Lakers will face a Grizzlies team that also just fired their head coach, Taylor Jenkins. It seems Memphis has also been dealing with their own internal issues and that might also be one of the reasons why they’ve dropped in the standings.

Prior to his firing, Jenkins led this team to a top=10 ranked offense and defense and they’ve played like it all year. That’s why from the outside looking in, it’s surprising to see this firing but alas.

The tricky thing about facing teams that just fired their head coach is you don’t know how they will respond. Will the Grizzlies play with a certain edge on Saturday to prove a point? Or will they look lost and exactly like a team that just fired their head coach?

We’ll only know on Saturday, but it seems Memphis has this game circled out as Ja Morant could return after sitting out the team’s last six games due to a hamstring injury.

With a relatively healthy Grizzlies team, expect them to attack the Lakers like they usually do by scoring in transition — where they ranked number one in the league — and attacking the paint. The Grizzlies are also a very good rebounding team.

Los Angeles’ defense will have to be ready because they’re in for a challenge against a team that averages 122.1 points a game, good for second best in the league.

This is the game where it would be nice to see LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić all play well, which hasn’t been the case as of late. The Lakers will really need Rui Hachimura to ball out again like he usually does in Memphis.

They need Dalton Knecht to hit his threes like he did against the Grizzlies in their last match, as well as for Gabe Vincent, Jordan Goodwin, Dorian Finney-Smith and Jaxson Hayes to provide significant two-way contributions.

I can’t overstate how big of a match this is for the Lakers. They really need this one, especially since their current road trip hasn’t panned out quite well. The last thing this team wants is to fall into the play-in tournament after avoiding it for most of the season.

With a win against the Grizzlies on Saturday, the Lakers can increase their chances of solidifying a playoff spot as well as retaining the fourth seed. Let’s see if the Lakers can do just that and turn this road trip around.

Notes and Updates

• For the Lakers’ injury report, Austin Reaves (right ankle sprain) is questionable while Maxi Kleber (right foot surgery) is out.
• As for the Grizzlies, Marvin Bagley III (concussion protocol) is questionable and so is Morant (left hamstring strain). Brandon Clarke (concusion protocol) and Zyon Pullin (right patellar tendon) are out.
• We will be live on Playback for this game, so be sure to join us!

You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.