The Western Conference’s second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies will take on the Los Angeles Lakers, who won their play-in matchup on Tuesday to seize the seventh seed, in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs. The two franchises have never squared off in the postseason; they have both employed multiple Gasols, though. So that’s something.

More Yahoo Sports NBA first-round playoff previews:

(1) Milwaukee Bucks vs. (8) Miami Heat

(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Atlanta Hawks

(3) Philadelphia 76ers vs. (6) Brooklyn Nets

(4) Cleveland Cavaliers vs. (5) New York Knicks

(1) Denver Nuggets vs. (8) Minnesota Timberwolves

(3) Sacramento Kings vs. (6) Golden State Warriors

(4) Phoenix Suns vs. (5) Los Angeles Clippers

How they got here

Memphis Grizzlies (51-31)

By relying on their formula — elite defense, good-enough offense, internal player development, strength in numbers — to weather an awfully rough couple of months.

Zoom out, and the Grizzlies’ encore to their breakthrough 2021-22 campaign looks pretty strong: the West’s second-best record and its best net rating, fueled by the best defense of this post-Grit ’n’ Grind era; a near-top-10 offense, featuring three players who’ve averaged 20 points per game down the stretch; a reserve corps featuring the best backup point guard in the business (Tyus Jones); and the league’s leader in 3-point percentage (trade-deadline addition Luke Kennard). Moment to moment, though, it’s all felt a bit more … chaotic.

A 9-4 start headlined by Ja Morant and Desmond Bane scoring like gangbusters also featured a defense that ranked 17th in points allowed per possession through the opening month. Just as Jaren Jackson Jr. was about ready to make his season debut after missing that month following right foot surgery, Bane went out with a right foot injury of his own that cost him more than a month, slowing down the offense as the JJJ-led defense began to soar.

About a month after Bane came back, starting center Steven Adams — among the league leaders in offensive rebounding, second-chance points, screen assists and box-outs, a possession-game-tilting monster quietly at the center of much of what Memphis did — went out with a right knee sprain that ended his regular season and will likely keep him out for the duration of the playoffs. About a month after that, backup big man Brandon Clarke — already a huge piece of the Grizzlies’ frontcourt, now occupying an even more central role with Adams out — ruptured the Achilles tendon in his left leg, ending his season.

A few hours after Clarke’s injury against the Nuggets, Morant went on Instagram Live from Shotgun Willie’s. You probably know how that played out.

All the overlapping injuries and suspensions meant that the Grizzlies barely got a look at either their preferred starting five (Morant, Bane, Jackson, Adams and Dillon Brooks played just 128 minutes together) or their first-choice alternate (the version with Clarke replacing Adams while JJJ slides to the 5 played a piddling 54), and won’t have access to either when the games matter the most. The silver lining: Memphis still had the West’s second-best record after March 1, thanks to Jackson leveling up offensively, Bane shouldering more responsibility on the ball, Morant coming back looking more or less like himself, Xavier Tillman doing yeoman’s work in place of Adams and Clarke, and reserve forwards Santi Aldama and David Roddy providing solid stopgap minutes up front.

We’re about to find out whether those depth pieces are postseason-ready, or whether the playoff stage — and, specifically, a matchup with one of the greatest players ever and one of the most devastating interior forces of the moment — will lay bare just how much the Grizzlies miss their injured bigs. At base, though, what was true about Memphis before the season remains true now: However far Morant, Jackson, Bane and Brooks can lead them, that’s how far they’ll go.

Los Angeles Lakers (43-39)

By eventually taking the L, getting back to first principles, and finding a new lease on life.

We come not to bury Russell Westbrook, who has made legitimate and tangible contributions to winning with the cross-Crypto-rival Clippers. We come instead to note the importance of fit, of function and of things that make sense.

It was clear from the opening tip that the roster the Lakers started the year with didn’t make sense: not enough shooting, not enough playmaking, not enough size on the perimeter, not enough defensive steel … and not enough upside to continuing to start Westbrook alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. After L.A. lost its first three games, with Russ shooting a combined 11-for-38 in the losses, first-year head coach Darvin Ham moved him to the bench.

The move didn’t immediately change the Lakers’ fortunes, as they still lost six of the next eight, but it did signal a shift in what, and whom, the franchise would prioritize — an acknowledgment that, if L.A. brass really wanted to maximize AD playing brilliantly at the 5 and LeBron averaging damn near 35-8-8 for the month surrounding his 38th birthday as he approached the all-time scoring record, they needed to retrofit the roster to make sense around the players who delivered the 2020 championship.

And so, they did. In two moves a little over two weeks apart, the Lakers shipped out six players — most notably Westbrook — along with future first- and second-round draft picks and cash, and brought in six new ones. They completely overhauled their rotation with two months left in the season, aiming to once again surround James and Davis with players who could shoot, dribble, pass and defend.

The shakeup paid off: With D’Angelo Russell adding another playmaking and scoring threat who shot 41% from deep, Jarred Vanderbilt teaming with Davis in a hellacious defensive frontcourt, Malik Beasley capable of exploding from long range off the bench, and Rui Hachimura bringing two-way versatility across the front line, the Lakers suddenly made sense again — and looked dangerous again. L.A. owned the West’s best record and third-best net rating after the trade deadline, even with James missing 16 games; the new-look starting lineup of James, Davis, Russell, Vanderbilt and damn good role player Austin Reaves outscored opponents by 37 points in 77 minutes down the home stretch.

That closing kick — combined with the Trail Blazers blatantly tanking, the Jazz less blatantly tanking, some garden-variety stumbles from the not-that-great Pelicans, Timberwolves and Thunder, and a truly disastrous turn of events in Dallas — allowed the Lakers to climb from 13th place at the trade deadline into seventh at season’s end, meaning they only had to win one play-in game to earn a date with the Grizz. It wasn’t pretty, but they got it done, and now LeBron, AD and Co. enter the weekend as the proverbial Team You Don’t Want To See In The First Round. That didn’t work out so hot for them in 2021; let’s see how they fare this time.

Head-to-head

The Lakers won the season series, 2-1.

You might not remember the specifics of L.A.’s first win, a 122-121 late January victory. Like, say, Westbrook scoring a game-high 29, Morant missing 20 shots, Memphis coughing up an 8-point lead with just over three minutes remaining, and the Lakers closing on a 15-7 run capped by Dennis Schröder trapping Bane on a closing-seconds inbounds pass, picking his pocket and racing the length of the court for an and-one layup that wound up being the game-winner.

You probably remember The Other Stuff from that game, though. Like, say, the part that included Shannon Sharpe.

(Davis missed that game, BTW, and it was one of only 11 in which Memphis had its full starting five.)

The Grizz got right back in Memphis a month later, with Morant scoring a franchise-record 28 points in the third quarter and hanging a 39-point triple-double on the visitors — who were without the injured James and Russell — in a 121-109 win. The following week, with Morant away from the team and Clarke done for the season, the still-LeBron-and-Russell-less Lakers returned serve in a 112-103 home win, with Davis (30 points, 22 rebounds) leading the way.

Closing lineups

Memphis Grizzlies

Because of all the injuries and missed time, Memphis hasn’t really had a hammer finishing lineup to rely on. The Grizzlies’ most frequently used five-man unit in the fourth quarter that doesn’t feature either Adams or Clarke is the revamped starting five — Tillman and JJJ up front, Bane and Brooks on the wing, Morant at the point — and it has played a grand total of 19 closing-stanza minutes this season, getting outscored by 9 points in that minuscule span. Not exactly a statistically significant sample!

Barring more injuries or foul/miscellaneous trouble — always a dicey stipulation, with JJJ averaging 4.6 personals per 36 minutes of floor time and Brooks leading the league in technical fouls during the regular season — expect head coach Taylor Jenkins to lean on his core four. The quartet of Morant, Jackson, Bane and Brooks have outscored opponents by a healthy 69 points in 351 minutes this season, which works out to plus-9.9 points-per-100 — an elite mark.

Brooks serves as the point-of-attack defensive menace against the opponent’s top scorer, while Jackson mans the back line and puts a lid on the rim; Morant’s the straw that stirs the drink in the high screen-and-roll, with Bane among the league’s most lethal catch-and-shoot threats and a capable downhill driver once he beats a closeout. It can be an awfully high-variance group, especially if Brooks is taking shots he probably shouldn’t and not making them — and, in point of fact, it has not been good in limited fourth-quarter run this season — but in the absence of Adams, Clarke and a suite of other more stable options, you’ve got to dance with what brung you. Especially when, if Morant’s destroying defenders off the bounce and the 3s are going down, what brung you is pretty damn potent.

Who’ll join that core will likely be matchup-dependent. Tillman might get the nod to guard Davis; he’s been Memphis’ most frequent defender on AD this season, and the undersized but physical and sound Michigan State product has held him to 9-for-21 shooting with seven turnovers. Grizzlies teams past have turned to Tyus Jones to pair with Morant when they need more ball-handling and shot creation in the guts of the game; the two-point-guard look has been a net negative this season, but Jenkins might trust Jones’ years of sure-handed play more than those numbers.

Keep an eye on Kennard, too. He hasn’t played much with all of the other starters since coming over at the trade deadline, but Memphis has absolutely torched opponents when he and Bane have shared the court. Two terrifying movement shooters sprinting all over the court can be awfully tough for defenses to track. But can the Grizz provide enough protection against getting hunted on the other end to take full advantage of Kennard’s skill set?

Los Angeles Lakers

Thanks to a bunch of injuries and the dramatic trade-deadline makeover, L.A.’s most frequently used fourth-quarter lineup featuring players still on the team has played all of 18 minutes; it features Lonnie Walker IV, who’s had more DNP-CDs than appearances over the last month. So, like the Grizz, probably not a ton to glean from the full five-man units.

How Ham closed the play-in win against Minnesota seems instructive, though. Davis, the centerpiece of the Lakers’ defense and their most dangerous inside weapon, played the entire fourth quarter and overtime. James, still not far removed from a torn right foot tendon but also still LeBron Friggin’ James, played 15 of those final 17 minutes. Reaves, a complementary playmaker with size who shot 40% from deep this season and averaged more than 17 points and five assists per game after the All-Star break, played all but 20 seconds of them. The Lakers have outscored opponents by 149 points in 390 minutes with that trio on the court this season — a trend that has persisted in fourth-quarter run. They’ll be on the floor when it matters.

Russell, meanwhile, wasn’t against the Wolves; while he’d dished eight assists against one turnover through three quarters, he’d also missed eight of his nine shots and wasn’t holding up defensively. Instead, Ham went with Schröder, whose quickness and ability to draw fouls paid dividends. Considering he’s probably L.A.’s best defensive matchup against Morant — Ja went 9-for-26 against him this season, according to NBA.com’s matchup data — it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ham call Schröder’s number in closing time again, especially if D’Lo’s jumper is offline.

As much as Vanderbilt’s length and activity help on the defensive end, playing him gives Jackson somebody to roam off so he can wreak havoc on the rest of the Lakers’ offense; Beasley demands attention when he’s got it going, but can hurt more than he helps if he doesn’t. The best split-the-difference choice might be Hachimura, who can switch defensive assignments with Davis and James while offering some spacing and off-the-bounce juice as a lower-tier option — and who, perhaps not coincidentally, played most of the fourth and OT against the Wolves.

Matchup to watch

If Ham keeps bringing Schröder off the bench to keep the late-season starting lineup intact, then who guards Ja? You’d have to like Morant’s chances against Russell or Reaves. Maybe L.A. opts to stick the 6-foot-9 Vanderbilt on Morant, forcing him to deal with length at the point of attack. While the idea has its merits, Vanderbilt was also L.A.’s top option against Jackson this season; if AD’s matched up with Tillman and responsible for backstopping everything else, that’d put LeBron in position to have to guard JJJ. He’s certainly capable of matching up physically, but do the Lakers want him doing that all game? If not, how do they stop Morant from getting downhill and creating chaos?

On the other side: Can the Lakers get Jackson into foul trouble? It goes without saying that keeping a Defensive Player of the Year favorite on the court as much as possible is important under any circumstances. Given the absences of Adams and Clarke, though — and given the anxiety that’d come with having to rely on Aldama, Roddy or just-called-up G League Rookie of the Year Kenneth Lofton Jr. for extended minutes against a LeBron-AD frontline — it’s an absolute must that Jackson avoid the cheap ones on stuff like reach-ins and moving screens … and it’d be a pretty smart approach for the Lakers to look to exploit JJJ’s moments of exuberance/lapses in judgment at every turn.

Oh, and Brooks guarding LeBron. I suspect that’ll be worth the price of admission.

BetMGM series odds

Memphis Grizzlies (-130)

Los Angeles Lakers (+105)

Series schedule (all times Eastern)

Game 1: L.A. at Memphis on Sunday (3 p.m., ABC)

Game 2: L.A. at Memphis on Wednesday (7:30 p.m., TNT)

Game 3: Memphis at L.A. on Saturday, April 22 (10 p.m., ESPN)

Game 4: Memphis at L.A. on Monday, April 24 (TBD)

*Game 5: L.A. at Memphis on Wednesday, April 26 (TBD)

*Game 6: Memphis at L.A. on Friday, April 28 (TBD)

*Game 7: L.A. at Memphis on Saturday, April 30 (TBD)

*if necessary

Prediction

Grizzlies in six. We’ve yet to see a team come out of the play-in mix and win an opening-round series; the difficulties that they had against the short-handed Wolves for much of their play-in win offered a reminder that even these revamped Lakers might not be that good. I’m not sure the Grizzlies are title contenders in their wounded state, but I think they’ve got enough to get out of Round 1.