Coming off a catastrophic performance Wednesday against the Heat at the Crypt, the Lakers needed to make a statement against the Grizzlies Friday, in the second game of this critical homestand.

And a statement they made! Just not a good one.

LA flipped the script, coming out hot in the first quarter, playing hard, and riding a LeBron James heatwave to build a nine point lead. From there? It was a dogfight, until it wasn't. The Lakers let the lead slip away heading into the half, and couldn't rebuild it in the third. With one quarter to get it right and get a win in (essentially) a tie game, the Lakers had a catastrophically bad quarter, scoring only 17 points and turning the ball over five times.

They missed free throws, they left players open, they got caught in transition. It was, in short, about as bad a finish as Wednesday's first quarter against Miami (for those who missed it, that's about as bad as it can be). In a game that was looking relatively decent against a Memphis team that looks much more like the playoff squad everyone expected with Ja Morant back, the final 12 minutes was a total collapse.

If they get blown out Sunday against the Clippers—and that feels like a distinct possibility, given the current trajectories of each team—the noise around Darvin Ham is going to get very, very, VERY loud.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

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