Grizzlies Face Off with Lakers in L.A.

Colin Rafferty –

Let me be one of the last to wish you and your family a very Happy New Year and hope this next one will be different and better!

Your Memphis Grizzlies are back in action tonight as they start the 2026 year off with a West Coast game against the 20-11 Los Angeles Lakers.

This will be the first game of a back-to-back against the Lakers, there will be one day in between each game.

The Lakers come into the game after losing to the Pistons on December 30, they are 1st in their division and are 5th in the West.

They average just about a point more in team offense than the Grizzlies, but they allow just slightly more points and have a similar point differential; just like the Sixers, this team is hovering around the same areas as the Grizz, statistically.

I hate the Lakers, I don’t like their fans, I don’t like their stadium name, I don’t like their coach, and I don’t like their team.

Nothing, no love lost, Lakers people have acted like they are God’s gift to the NBA community, becuase they won the most Mickey Mouse championship in 2020. It was literally held in Orlando on the grounds of ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.

They will be without Gabe Vincent (back) and Rui Hachimura, and Jarred Vanderbilt is listed as Questionable.

For Grizz fans, that is great news, Hachimura has been a thorn in the side of the Grizzlies the last few times they have played.

One of those games was in the FedEx Forum, to which I heard too many Lakers fans cheering every time he got a shot off.

It disgusted me.

The Grizzlies will come into the game with KCP and Jaylen Wells listed as QUESTIONABLE.

A new year and the same bs that the Grizz have been dealing with for the better part of 3 years now, one in one out.

Wells is dealing with left hamstring soreness, that is not a good sign. Usually that means there will be more games in the coming weeks that he will miss, and hopefully not pull it completely.

Grizzlies will need to rely on their defense and make sure to take care of the ball. The past few games they have played some relatively good defense, but with the number of turnovers and the timing of these turnovers have sunk them late in the game.

Their defense turns into offense, they can get out and run and force the Lakers to get back on defense after a shot, instead of trying to get second or third chance opportunities.

The Lakers have size across the lineup, but they do not have that presence inside that makes much of a difference. Deandre Ayton, Jaxson Hayes, Maxi Kielber are the bigs, Jaren Jackson Jr. should have a field day on the offensive side, just need to keep him away from stupid fouls.

The now 41-year-old LeBron James is helped out by his guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. If the Grizzlies want any shot to win both games, they will need to limit one if not both.

Reaves will undoubtably be important in one of these games, he does not like the Grizz it’s clear.

Luka, who started the year off on an absolute tear has started to come back to Earth. He is one of the league’s best players and will score at will. He is averaging 33.5 points a game (best in the league), 8.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists, all while shooting 45.9% from the field.

The Grizzlies and Lakers have played one game this year and it was on Halloween, inside FedEx Forum. Luka had just come back from missing 3 games, and scored 44 pts, grabbed 12 rebounds, and had 6 assists.

The Grizz were led by Jaylen Wells’ 16 points, Landale also added 16, with Jaren putting up 15. It was a brutal game for the Grizzlies; they were clocked for 25 fouls to the Lakers 16 on their own home court. How is that possible?

I will tell you, the NBA doesn’t like Memphis, and they swoon over anything the Lakers do.

The Lakers shooting 51% from the field also had a lot to do with it. The Grizzlies had started the game off playing had and were able to retake the lead and go into half up by 6 points.

They then built the lead up to 13 in the third, that was just about all they had left, the Lakers wouldn’t miss and the Grizzlies stopped scoring.

I hope they will use some of the tape from that game, to motivate this group not to allow that again.

Tuesday night’s loss to the 76er’s was a bummer, a hell of a game, but a bummer they lost. Ja Morant shined with 40 points, but the Grizz couldn’t stop the likes of rookie VJ Edgecombe and the Sixers young budding star, Tyrese Maxey.

The crowd was electric and the game was fun, alas they did not come away with the win, but watching this team now, as opposed to the beginning of the year, they seem to be playing better.

They haven’t yet gone on the streak I would’ve like to have seen, but nonetheless they are looking better. Just get a couple more guys healthy by the end of this month and make a push.

The Grizzlies New Year’s resolution, get to .500, win games you’re in control of, and get healthy and STAY HEALTHY.

If the Grizzlies can do that, and that is a big ask, they can quickly turn into the team you do not want to face in a play-in situation or in the playoffs.

Let us all turn the page on the woeful year the Grizzlies had last year, put it behind us and go win some games.

Tip-off is at 9:30 PM CST tonight. You can listen live on 92.9 FM ESPN or on the Audacy App. You can also watch live on the FanDuel Sports Network with Pete and Brevin.

It’s a new year, let’s go make it different.