The Lakers hit a wall on Wednesday, missing shots and falling short against a highly motivated Memphis Grizzlies squad in Game 5. LeBron James looked tired, but vowed to be better in Game 6. And surely the Crypto.com Arena crowd will be jacked up for the first closeout game the fans have seen in a very, very long time. One key will be keeping that energy flowing throughout, and not allowing the Grizzlies the ability to put fear into nearly 20,000 folks.
It'll help for the Lakers to hit some shots, because these sub-30% 3-point nights aren't gonna get it done. It'll help to force some turnovers, and create easy buckets.
It'll help for LeBron to do good stuff early, after a really bad night on Wednesday.
And would it also help if Darvin Ham tweaked the rotation? There have been many, many calls for Ham to quit running with the small lineups while Anthony Davis is off the floor, where LeBron or Rui Hachimura is playing center, and the Lakers are undersized. Those small bench lineups were hammered in Game 5. But what's the right solution? Is it to play Wenyen Gabriel more? Mo Bamba? What about those minutes going to Malik Beasley? Should they instead go to Lonnie Walker IV, or should both guys sit and the rotation get a little shorter?
Plenty of choices, and in a tight series, they matter.
But whatever the decisions, the Lakers have every reason to come out focused and get 'er done.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Darvin Ham is looking at the rotation. Is it time to make changes?

SEGMENT 2: Is it Bamba? Walker? What are the ripple effects effects when changes like this are made?

SEGMENT 3: What goes into making these kinds of choices? What about some of the crazier ideas fans have?

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