Anthony Davis, LeBron James score in Lakers win over Grizzlies

The Lakers defeated Memphis 134-107 on Tuesday, continuing their dominance over the Grizzlies with their biggest win and best performance of the new season. This was their first meeting after eliminating the Grizzlies in the playoffs, and although the visiting team was seriously plagued by injuries, the victory was still important.

Most notably, it was a historic performance by the Lakers, who tied the franchise record for three-pointers made and continued a tradition of mocking the Grizzlies.

Let’s rate the wins. Grades are based on expectations for each player. A “B” grade represents the player’s average performance.

Cam Red

Played 25 minutes, 10 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound, 3 of 7 field goals, 3 of 5 three-pointers, 1 of 2 free throws, +16

Cam Reddish with the confidence of LeBron James might now be the athletically gifted Kyle Korver. He’s 2-16 from beyond the arc and 9-16 from behind the arc in his past three games.

Is this sustainable? Probably not. But now it’s fun.

Grade: B+

LeBron James

Played 23 minutes, 16 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal, 6 of 11 field goals, 3 of 6 three-pointers, 1 of 2 free throws, +15

LeBron didn’t have to step out of first gear in this game, but that’s not to say he wasn’t involved in the win. He set the tone early with a 3-pointer and still played hard.

Those numbers from LeBron are what the Lakers should aim for moving forward this season. Low minutes, high-efficiency production, blowout wins.

Grade: B+

Anthony Davis

Played 27 minutes, 19 points, 11 rebounds, 6 blocks and 5 assists, 7 of 11 field goals, 5 of 6 free throws, +21

AD claimed he didn’t work harder against the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. I’m not sure I believe him, but his motives don’t matter. He’s absolutely outplayed Jaren Jackson Jr. in every game of late.

Is JJJ still a good player? fork. He got the DPOY award and AD got no trophy, do they look more and more stupid every time they play? Yes.

Grade:A

Taurus Prince

Played 29 minutes, 8 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 of 6 field goals, 2 of 5 three-pointers, +9

A rather boring game from Taurean Prince. He’s very useful but doesn’t jump off the screen too much.

But if Prince is going to live up to his pledge to shoot 40 percent from three, he’ll need to improve even more, as he’s now shooting 32.5 percent in nine games this season.

Grade: C

D’Angelo Russell

Played 27 minutes, 24 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds, 8 of 12 field goals, 6 of 8 three-pointers, 2 of 3 free throws, +25

Are there in-season tournament all-tournament teams? Is D’Lo working on that? Regardless of his motivation, he posted a game-high +25 and exploded in the third quarter to end the game.

Russell might be the Lakers’ third-best player this season, and he’s doing it in more ways than just shooting

Grade:A

Austin Reeves

Played 29 minutes, 16 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, 5 of 9 shots, 4 of 4 three-pointers, 3 of 2 free throws, +13

While his benching may have made others uncomfortable, Reeves didn’t miss a beat. One thing to monitor is that since moving to the bench, Reeves’ assist numbers have gone up while his turnovers have gone down.

Grade: B+

Rui Hachimura

24 minutes, 23 points, 3 rebounds, 8 of 10 shots, 3 of 3 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, +6

It’s a very sharp stat line that does little except score on the night. But if he does it that efficiently, you can’t complain.

No matter what the numbers show, Rui has performed well since returning from injury and continues to perform at a high level.

Grade: A

Christian Wood

Played 22 minutes, 2 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block, 1 of 8 shots, 0 of 3 three-pointers, +9

It was another night where Christian Wood struggled to shoot. On Tuesday, however, Wood found other ways to contribute, something he hasn’t always done this season or in his career.

He still grabbed 10 rebounds, helped the Lakers win the rebounding battle, and was still influential in this victory.

Grade: B

Jason Hayes

Played 21 minutes, 11 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 3 blocks, 4 of 4 shots, 4 of 3 free throws, +6

While my initial thought was to write about this stat line, how a guy with the physical gifts of Jaxon Hayes ended the game with a rebound, that probably should have been a secondary takeaway. Hayes had his best game of the season on Tuesday, safely and easily on both sides of the ball.

Grade: B+

Max Christie

9 minutes, 5 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 of 2 field goals, 1 of 1 three-point field goal, +10

Christie was able to come into the game and contribute in garbage time to a record-breaking night. It’s safe to say that at this point in the year, Christie isn’t ready to rotate heavily in competitive games, which makes nights like this even more important for him.

Grade: B

Maxwell Lewis

5 minutes, 0-1 shots, +5

There’s not much to take away from this other than Lewis getting some NBA playing time. He doesn’t do a lot of good or bad on the field. It’s hard to even rate him, so I won’t.

Grade: Incomplete

Darwin Ham

Credit to Darwin, who recently said he’s not worried about the team’s slow shooting start as they’re getting better. He is right.

Another point: DaVine struggled with timeout usage early in his career and admitted it after a forgettable loss to the Celtics. That’s where he’s made huge strides, whether it’s saving them until the fourth quarter to rest LeBron in competitive games or using them to stop the run from happening on Tuesday.

Grade: A-

No activity on Friday: Jalen Hood-Schifino, Jared Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent, Colin Castleton.Dermoy Hodge, Alex Fudge

You can follow Jacob on Twitter: @Jacobrud.

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