“The Lakers have a huge advantage because Brandon Clarke is not playing and Steven Adams is not playing. That’s a huge advantage for the Lakers because those two guys really affect the game. Really, the only big guy they have now is Jaren Jackson, so that’s a little bit of a disadvantage for the Grizzlies
“What Memphis will do is bring Jackson from the basket and make AD guard him on the perimeter, just shoot threes, which will take away AD’s defense at the rim. … Jackson is not really a post-up guy, but he’ll be on the perimeter and he can shoot threes and he can drive. So, that’ll take AD away from the rim. So, I think that’s huge.
“The key for the Lakers is how are they going to guard Ja? He’s so much faster and quicker and explosive than anybody they got. Even [Dennis] Schroder. That’s a tough one for them, man. In the open court and off turnovers, you can’t guard him. He’s just so fast and so quick and athletic.
Austin Reaves likely will be one of the many Lakers guard attempting to slow down Grizzlies star Ja Morant when their playoff series starts Sunday in Memphis.
(Karen Pulfer Focht / Associated Press)
“The Lakers got to make it a half-court game. If you turn the ball over against them or if you try to run up and down against them, they are just too young and athletic. Jaren Jackson, Desmond Bane, Ja.
“Probably the most interesting matchup is going to be Brooks and LeBron. Just from a fan standpoint, you want to see it because Brooks is not going to back down. He’s going to try to be physical. Then at some point there’s going to be like a confrontation — technicals, pushing, shoving. Something. It’s just going to happen. …
“Now from Memphis’ point of view, the Lakers got to go to AD inside. Like at the elbow, the post, to try to make Jaren Jackson guard him. He gets in foul trouble a lot. If he gets in foul trouble, they got nobody else. This is where they will miss Steven Adams and Brandon Clarke. … So, the Lakers got to get AD in the post.
“A key player for the Lakers is Dennis Schroder off the bench. He’s got to be able to score like 15 points off the bench for them to give them a little juice.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
