MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Mike Conley scored 23 points and the Memphis Grizzlies finally got a strong effort from their struggling bench to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 107-102 on Tuesday night.
Kobe Bryant led the Lakers (1-6) with 28 points, but shot 10 of 26 from the field and surpassed Boston Celtics great John Havlicek for the most missed field goals in an NBA career.
Reserve guard Wayne Ellington was not with the Lakers after his father was killed in Philadelphia on Sunday night.
Backup guard Beno Udrih had 16 points for Memphis. Courtney Lee scored 15 as six Grizzlies finished in double figures, including Zach Randolph with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Memphis has won 17 straight regular-season home games since a February loss to Dallas.
Carlos Boozer scored 20 points for the Lakers. Wesley Johnson added 15, while Jordan Hill had 13 points and 14 rebounds.
Memphis held a 17-point lead with 6:50 left and seemed in complete control. But the Lakers ran off 11 straight points and got within three on two occasions in the final 1:33.
With the Lakers trailing 105-102 with about 30 seconds left, Hill took a jumper that led to an exasperated look from Bryant, who was in the right corner.
Randolph got a putback on Marc Gasol’s shot that was blocked by Ed Davis with 5.2 seconds remaining for the final margin.
Bryant, who entered shooting 39 percent this season, didn’t get off to a very good start, connecting on only one of his first five shots. At that point, the watch on Bryant reaching the NBA record for misses in a career began to gain attention.
But the rest of the Lakers were connecting well enough for Los Angeles to finish the first half at 55 percent. Still, Memphis held a 56-52 advantage.
The Grizzlies led most of the way, with the 17-point advantage in the fourth marking their largest of the game.
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TIP-INS
Lakers: Havlicek missed 13,417 shots. Bryant now has 13,420. … Los Angeles has several former Grizzlies on the roster: Davis, Xavier Henry and Ellington. . The Lakers started a stretch of six games in nine days.
Grizzlies: Udrih had 10 points in the first half, becoming the first Memphis reserve to reach double figures this season. Kosta Koufos had 14 points in a backup role, as the Memphis bench outscored the Lakers’ reserves 38-14.
UP NEXT
Lakers: At New Orleans on Wednesday.
Grizzlies: Home against Sacramento on Thursday.
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