LOS ANGELES – After they made big shots or hustle plays, the Los Angeles Lakers players implored the sell-out crowd to cheer louder.
Once they entered the locker room, the Lakers themselves cheered with mocking chants of “Whoop that Trick” as a not-so-subtle way to troll the Memphis Grizzlies for yelling out their rallying cry.
No doubt, it meant a lot for the Los Angeles Lakers to finish with a 125-85 victory over the Grizzlies on Friday at Crypto.com Arena. They won Game 6 to close out a first-round series against a team that talked plenty of trash without backing it up. The Lakers experienced playoff success following a 2-10 regular season start and a missed postseason appearance last season. And the Lakers advanced to the second round for the first time since their 2020 NBA title run and for the first time in front of actual fans since 2012.
Soon enough, the chants subsided. The Lakers then talked about their upcoming second-round matchup that starts on Tuesday against either the Golden State Warriors or the Sacramento Kings. Though they won’t know their opponent until the Warriors play in Sacramento for Game 7 on Sunday, the Lakers already discussed the mindset needed to beat either team.
“We passed level one. Now we have to start shifting our focus,” Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Whoever comes out of that game on Sunday, we have to start shifting our focus and really understanding it’s about us as much as it is about our opponent.”
That explains why Lakers star LeBron James shared what Ham called “a great batch of words” surrounding his own playoff experience. And why wouldn’t he? He won four NBA championships. He has appeared in 10 NBA Finals, including nine consecutive from 2011 to 2018. He has a strong record in the second round (11-3) and Conference Finals (10-1). James has experienced plenty of shortcomings, too, including six Finals losses.
He has plenty of familiarity with battling against the Warriors four times in the Finals (1-3). He has plenty of familiarity with Kings coach Mike Brown, who coached James during part of his first stint in Cleveland.
“We have a young ball club with not a lot of experience in the postseason,” James said. “Just try to give my knowledge about what I’ve been through and what they can expect. As hard as this series felt and as hard as this series was, it gets even harder when you move a level up. We were able to conquer level one and now we move to level two. It gets harder and harder. They understood that, and they’ll be ready for it.”
Los Angeles Lakers’ long journey to second round
The Los Angeles Lakers’ confidence in the journey ahead stems from how they navigated this past season. They started 2-10. They then fell to 13th in the Western Conference leading into the trade deadline. For the second consecutive season, James and Anthony Davis struggled with injuries. For the second consecutive season, Russell Westbrook never found his fit as the team’s faulty roster exposed his poor shooting, defense and ball handling instead of accentuating his hustle and fast pace. Even with the Lakers hiring Ham as a first-year head coach, they hardly experienced much initial success.
That all changed once the Lakers dealt Westbrook in a three-team trade with Utah and Minnesota. The Lakers received a more dependable playmaker and shooter (D’Angelo Russell), another additional shooter (Malik Beasley) and a quality defender (Jarred Vanderbilt). The Lakers made other deals. They dealt an injury-riddled guard (Kendrick Nunn) and three second-round picks to Washington for additional wing depth (Rui Hachimura). They dealt an inconsistent wing (Patrick Beverley) to Orlando for a quality rim protector (Mo Bamba).
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“The energy we got since we made that trade, we had an energy that was contagious with our group,” Russell said. “That was one thing we could control. We always came with that energy every day on the plane and on the bus. We still wanted to make sure we were still us. It trickled down, and it was contagious.”
It became contagious enough that the Lakers became one of the NBA’s best teams following the trade deadline. They tied for the league’s third best record (18-8) and ranked second in total defensive rating (110.8). So when the Lakers became a seventh seed in the NBA playoffs, they hardly viewed themselves as an underdog opponent.
“Our goal from the start was to make the playoffs,” Lakers guard Dennis Schroder said. “That’s a great accomplishment for everybody in this locker room for everybody to be locked in, even if the outside world was talking bad.”
Ignoring taunts, Lakers ‘Let our game talk’
That included the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round opponent. Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks talked openly about wanting to meet the Lakers in the first round because of their perceived vulnerability with their health. Following the Lakers’ Game 2 loss in Memphis, Brooks then dismissively described the Lakers’ 38-year-old star LeBron James as “old” before bragging about shutting him down defensively.
James refused to publicly respond to Brooks’ insults. Davis added the team didn’t even discuss Brooks’ barbs internally.
“We let our game talk and just play basketball. We try to not to get in the back-and-forth with those guys,” Davis said. “Obviously that’s how a lot of times those guys get themselves going. When guys are constantly talking and you say nothing back, they’re going to eventually stop. That’s what kind of happened with Dillon Brooks. We wanted to let our game talking.”
So before Game 6 started, James alerted that Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane predicted that the team could force a Game 7 on its home floor on Sunday.
The Lakers stormed the court and immediately stopped that from happening.
“It was definitely a Game 7 mentality for us,” James said. “We understood that we had an opportunity to play in front of our fans, and we wanted to try to end it tonight.”
Plenty of fans enjoyed what they saw, including the Lakers’ most famous season ticketholders (Jack Nicholson, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea), two music moguls (Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine), a comedian (Larry David) and a former NBA player that may want to sign with the Lakers this summer (Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving).
Russell posted 31 points while shooting 12-for-17 from the field after finishing with 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting in the Lakers’ Game 5 loss. James added 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting after laboring with 15 points on a 5-for-17 clip and five turnovers in Game 5. Davis added 16 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks. Austin Reaves contributed 11 points and eight assists. Meanwhile, the Grizzlies looked completely distraught. No one could hit a shot, including Bane (15 points on 5-for-16 shooting), Jaren Jackson Jr. (14 points on 3-for-12 shooting), Ja Morant (10 points on 3-for-16 shooting), Brooks (10 points on 4-for-11 shooting).
The game became so lopsided that Russell kept waving his hands to the sell-out crowd to cheer throughout the second half. Davis did the same after chasing a loose ball. James soaked in the atmosphere while resting for the entire fourth quarter.
“The crowd plays a major part in giving us energy. It’s also taking the life out of another team as well when they have the chance to,” Russell said. “It forces teams to call timeout when the crowd gets involved. We have one of the best fanbases in the world. So to have that on our backside and know we can use that to our advantage when we’re playing at home, I think it’s a good problem to have.”
That atmosphere caused so many problems that Brooks declined to talk to the media following all of the Lakers’ three home wins. Morant skipped interviews following the Lakers’ Game 4 victory, too. And while the Lakers enjoyed the festive atmosphere before having a serious talk in their locker room, the Grizzlies remained eerily quiet in theirs.
The Los Angeles Lakers remain determined to make the some impact with future playoff opponents, beginning with either the Warriors or Kings.
Mark Medina is an NBA Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.