5 things the Lakers must do to complete an upset of the Grizzlies

Thing #5: Maximizing the absence of Steven Adams

Circling back to the first encounter of both teams back on January 20, even though the result showed that the Lakers snagged the win, a telling story of that game was the offensive rebounding.

Peeping at the box scores, the disparity in total rebounds was 63-47 and 24-10 in terms of offensive rebounding in favor of the Grizzlies. It then resulted in a 17-point difference in second-chance points. All thanks to Adams’ double-double of 16 points and 17 rebounds.

Why does it matter? The Grizzlies were 14th in rebounds per game at 43.4, 13th in offensive rebounding per game at 10.4, and 25th in rebounding percentage at 48.4% since Adams’ injury. This is the perfect time for them to pounce on this, with Anthony Davis healthy and holding on.

Davis did show that he can be that dominant force in the two games he played versus the Grizzlies, where he averaged 29 points and 20.5 rebounds on 55.6% shooting from the field in two games. It’s an understatement to say that the Grizzlies can’t defend him.

Factoring out Adams’ absence, just look how much he can be a beast in cleaning the glass and converting baskets.

Hopefully, throughout the series, Davis will not settle to take jumpers. Although it’s a plus if he’s able to sprinkle them here and there, the mentality for Davis has to be that no one on the other side could defend him individually. There’s no perfect time to exemplify his will better than the undermanned frontline of the Grizzlies.