Tennessee’s Memphis Rui Hachimura was having flashbacks to their first-round series triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies last April when the Los Angeles Lakers arrived in Memphis on Wednesday morning.
Hachimura believed that the Lakers had been in Memphis for “two months” despite just staying for seven days during the two-week series. After leading his squad in the first game of that series, Hachimura considered his national breakthrough performance almost a year later.
In their victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, Rui Hachimura was the standout player for the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James’ triple-double was undoubtedly a contributing factor, but Hachimura’s 32 points and 10 rebounds on 7 of 8 shots from beyond the arc helped the Lakers cruise past Memphis to win their fifth straight game and go to 2-0 on the road.
Since entering the starting lineup, Hachimura has been excellent for the Lakers, and the victory on Wednesday was just one more instance of it. Since head coach Darvin Ham started Hachimura in the starting lineup permanently, the Lakers are 16-7. In those 23 games, he has been shooting above 55% from the field and 45% from three.
Furthermore, Hachimura’s hot on WednesdayNot only did his shooting work for him, but it also gave the Lakers the freedom to use any offensive strategy they pleased in a game without Anthony Davis. Following the win, James discussed that on Spectrum SportsNet:
