The Lakers’ defense was nonexistent as they couldn’t stop the Memphis Grizzlies from scoring, losing 131-114 on Wednesday night.

With Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura out, LeBron James would have to shoulder the offensive load. He finished the game with 39 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Tonight was also LeBron’s 1,500th regular season game.

Austin Reaves scored 19 points points and had five assists as well as three rebounds and three steals. D’Angelo Russell had three assists and two steals with 12 points to go. Cam Reddish had 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Grizzlies rookie Zach Edey started things off with a layup. Memphis attacked early and built a four-point lead while LA struggled to score. D’Lo scored four points in a row. The Grizzlies took a lead of six after D’Lo began suiting up for LA. LeBron hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to three.

Memphis turned the ball over often and already had six, but the Lakers couldn’t take advantage of that to gain momentum. Dalton hit a three-pointer and made the game a three-point game.

AD’s presence in the field was overlooked as the Grizzlies were able to easily score without his defense stopping them. At the end of the first period, LA trailed by eight.

The Grizzlies’ turnover problems, which did not play clean ball, continued. LA’s offense was a little more fluid and they reduced the deficit to three with a three-pointer from LeBron. While Memphis tried to extend its lead, the Lakers continued to stay afloat.

Dalton went to great lengths to rebound the ball twice, which ultimately led to a dunk from Jaxson Hayes. Jaxson then had another dunk to bring the game to four points. Reddish once again did all the dirty work with his strong defense. He stole the ball and took it to the other end for a layup.

Two minutes before halftime, LeBron began to take over the offense. He had up to 13 points in the quarter. The energy ramped up as both teams traded baskets. Ja Morant and LeBron traded back and forth, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The two superstars traded baskets and Ja nudged LeBron. On another play, Ja made a too-small gesture toward Gabe Vincent and Lebron returned the favor.

At halftime, Memphis was ahead by six.

The second half began with LeBron passing the ball to Jaxson for another dunk. Memphis countered by scoring nine straight points on three 3-pointers to take an 11-point lead. LeBron knocked down two 3-pointers, making it a five-point game.

Los Angeles tried to stay close enough to mount an attack, but after a few shots and a three-pointer from former Lakers Jay Huff, the Grizzlies’ lead grew to 11.

Huff felt himself completely taking advantage of his former team, even converting a strong putback dunk.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Lakers, who trailed by 14 points at the end of the third period.

The final frame began with a 1 from Jaren Jackson Jr. and a 3 from Luke Kennard. Nothing was going well for LA as Memphis’ lead continued to grow.

LeBron tried to single-handedly get the team going and cut the deficit to 16, but the Grizzlies were unstoppable offensively.

With four minutes left the game was out of reach and the rest of the period passed.

Key Takeaways:

When will Max Christie and Gabe see productive offensive play? Both players seem to be drowning in confidence.

Reddish did a lot of work for the bench, but the other points mostly came in stoppage time. The bench must wake up during the game.

The Lakers understandably struggled with points in the paint without AD. They only had 44 compared to 60 in Memphis.

The Lakers will look to get back on the winning streak at home against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday at 7:00 p.m. PT.

You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.