The reserve wing scores 21 of his team-high 29 points in the second half to help fuel a 128-112 Game 1 win against the Grizzlies, finishing 5 for 6 from 3-point range and 11 for 14 overall.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Lakers got exactly what they wanted from Rui Hachimura during their victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series. They wanted aggressive play with the ball in his hands, and he delivered as needed with 29 points.
Hachimura tied Mychal Thompson for the most points by a Lakers reserve in a playoff game. Thompson scored 29 points in a May 1, 1988 game. Or more than a decade before Hachimura was born in Toyama, Japan, and more than 35 years before the Lakers and Grizzlies squared off.By the end of the game, it was difficult to know which of his baskets stood out most of all.All of them were important, though.
“Just yesterday or two days ago, the whole team, we got in – not an argument – a conversation about my dunk package is kind of weak,” Hachimura said. “And I was showing all my highlights on YouTube and they were like, ‘No.’ They don’t like that. So, I told them, I said, ‘Look, this series, I’m going to have one. Just watch.’ So it happened today. They just told me, I got one. So, just the way we’ve been talking, they told me to be more aggressive.
All joking aside, the Lakers wouldn’t have won Sunday without Hachimura. He’s been a steady contributor since Lakers coach Darvin Ham “went rogue” and left Hachimura out of the rotation for a loss to the Chicago Bulls on March 26, and his shooting in Game 1 was not entirely unexpected.“I love Rui,” Ham said. “I mean, he’s one of the brightest young men I’ve been around and had the opportunity to coach in my life. He’s multi-faceted. He’s strong. He’s got great hands.
It wasn’t easy at first, after Hachimura joined the Lakers in a Jan. 23 trade from the Washington Wizards, the team that drafted him in the first round in 2019.
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