Los Angeles Lakers: 3 keys to closing out the Grizzlies, advancing to West semis

Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James (Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports)
Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James (Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports)
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Heading into Game 5, the Los Angeles Lakers have the opportunity to close out the Memphis Grizzlies and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

The Los Angeles Lakers are on the verge of pulling off a sizeable upset.

Coming into this series as the 7th seed in the Western Conference, the Lakers barely scraped into the playoffs after qualifying via the Play-In Tournament.

They were in the bottom third of the West standings for the majority of the year. But thanks to many key midseason acquisitions at the NBA Trade Deadline, health, and timely performances from LeBron James and Anthony Davis, they became one of the most in-form teams coming into the postseason.

Throughout this first-round NBA Playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies, overall they’ve been extremely impressive. They’re going to need even more of that on Wednesday to close out a team who holds the best home record in the NBA. Heading into Game 5, which is a closeout opportunity for the Lakers, we’ll explore three keys to getting it done.