LOS ANGELES — The Lakers entered Sunday night on a winning streak, but in just two plays, Ja Morant showed there are heights they cannot yet reach.

In the first quarter, the 22-year-old launched himself in the path of a high-arcing shot by Avery Bradley, batting it away with both hands from 12 feet in the air. In the third quarter, he soared on the offensive end, catching a lob from Desmond Bane and ducking his head on the dunk so it didn’t clang against the rim.

“Didn’t know he was going to do it in that fashion,” said LeBron James of the block, “but he got rockets in his calf muscles, and it was a spectacular play.”

Not only is Morant – one of the NBA’s up-and-coming young stars – able to leap higher than any Laker, his team is better, too.

In the bout between the two teams straddling the upper middle of the Western Conference standings, Memphis (28-14) showed it is still a cut above in a 127-119 Lakers (21-20) defeat. Winners of nine straight games, the Grizzlies clinched the season series, 3-1, reeling off wins in their last three meetings, and though James scored 35 points on a dazzling 14 for 19 shooting night, he found it quite lonely at the top of the Lakers’ stat sheet.

Most of the other Lakers were woeful on offense. James’ fellow starters (in a lineup that came into Sunday 4-0) were just 8 for 39 from the field and totaled 22 points between them. No other starter had more than 7 points.

In the loss, James moved up the NBA’s all-time assist list to No. 7, passing Oscar Robertson (9,887). Just getting the seven assists to do so was a chore, as the Lakers missed a painful number of open looks or chances right at the rim. The Grizzlies made them pay, too, scoring 25 points in transition.

“When we weren’t scoring, we lost focus on what we were supposed to be doing on the defensive side,” coach Frank Vogel said. “And that can’t happen.”

It marked another dismal shooting night for Russell Westbrook on a night when his scoring punch would have been useful. He was just 2 for 12, wrapping up with 6 points and 6 assists in 26 minutes. In his last six games, Westbrook is only shooting 36.8% from the floor.

While Westbrook, the NBA’s leader in career triple-doubles, has said repeatedly that his game is predicated on more than scoring, he acknowledged after the loss that he knows the Lakers need more points from him with Anthony Davis out. James said he can still make strides in playing with Westbrook for the second half of the season – and that the best version of the Lakers comes when Westbrook’s confidence surges.

“Obviously his shot hasn’t fell for him as of late, but I think he’s just got to continue to trust that,” James said. “We love when he’s playing at a high level. We love it when he’s playing with a high motor, pushing the tempo, cause when we’re good, when we’re really good, we’re getting the fast-break points and it starts with Russ attacking and early transition and things of that nature.”

The final score looked much closer than the bulk of the game was due to a bench-driven lineup that put together a scrappy run. On his way to a career-best 16 points, Austin Reaves helped steer the Lakers on a shocking 21-0 run as both teams took out their starters. The Lakers would get as close as seven points from the Grizzlies, who had to put their regulars back in to finish out the win.

The Lakers are now just one game above .500 at the season’s halfway point. And though their recent four-game winning streak, the longest of the season, had floated optimism, Sunday’s defeat was a thudding reminder that they’re still churning in the NBA’s substantial middle – the Grizzlies are closer to the upper tier.

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When asked how he felt about the team at the halfway mark, Westbrook silently looked at the losing box score for 10 seconds before mustering an answer: ” I guess we, we’re moving in the right direction. Other than tonight.”

While the Lakers were without Davis, the Grizzlies played without Dillon Brook who was lost in the previous day’s game due to injury, and also were missing Steven Adams who has bruised the Lakers on the glass in previous meetings.

But even though Morant’s numbers (16 points, 7 assists) didn’t quite match the spectacular nature of his highlights, he found plenty of help from his teammates – five of whom scored in double figures.

The leader was Bane with 23 points. Besides going 5 for 8 from three, he found time to jaw back and forth with James. James went after Bane on several offensive possessions in apparent retaliation, but the Lakers defense had a harder time keeping track of Memphis’ shooters.

Reaves and Ellington tied for the second-highest scoring Laker, knocking down their 16 points largely in the late run. Talen Horton-Tucker had 13 points.

Maybe it was Ellington’s role in the comeback that had him feeling glass-half-full, but he related an anecdote from the Lakers’ mini-camp in Las Vegas back in September, when James compared the group to the 2020-21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They started out 7-5 despite a much-hyped roster, and observers wondered if they could actually win.

“And everybody was like, ‘oh no,’ and all of a sudden, they hit a stride at the right time,” he said. “Ended up winning the whole thing. And that’s one of the things I always reach back to, when you see how our season’s going so far. And remaining positive and remaining professional, man. Understanding that this thing can turn in the right direction pretty quickly for us.”