The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon behind two great performances from role players. Austin Reaves channeled his inner Kobe Bryant and closed out the game in decisive fashion while Rui Hachimura led the entire team in scoring with 29 points off the bench.
Hachimura’s former teammate from this season, Kyle Kuzma, made it clear that he was watching his former team at home as they took on the Grizzlies. Kuzma seemed very invested in the game, firing off a laundry list of tweets about his former teammates.
The tweet that Lakers fans are going to love the most was Kuzma’s final tweet about the game. After Los Angeles emerged victoriously and Ja Morant hurt his wrist, Kuzma made a very bold declaration that every single fan is going to hope comes true — this series is over.
Wrap the series up
— kuz (@kylekuzma) April 16, 2023
Kyle Kuzma thinks Lakers-Grizzlies is already over
The job is not finished and the Lake Show has to win three more games against Memphis to advance to the second round but it is hard not to like the team’s chances. All LA really needed to do was steal one of the first two games on the road and that would put the team in a good position to win the series.
Now, the Lakers have the ability to win both games on the road against the Grizzlies, which would put Taylor Jenkins’ team in a very tough spot to come back from. The Lakers would need to just win two more games in the final five with three of those games taking place in Los Angeles.
If Morant’s injury is serious and he misses any time then Kuzma might be right. This Grizzlies team is a lot less scary with Morant out of action and that alone could dig a hole that is simply too big for Memphis to climb out of.