They met two days prior to Sunday night’s encounter at Crypto.com Arena, a two-game set between the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies reminiscent of a playoff series.

The Lakers won the first game Friday night and knew the Grizzlies were going to bring more intensity and a stronger effort even with star guard Ja Morant (right calf contusion) not playing.

And that was the case, the Lakers falling behind by 16 points in the second quarter, the Grizzlies ramping it up in a big way. But with Luka Doncic, LeBron James and Jake LaRavia leading the way, the Lakers pulled out a 120-114 win.

Doncic almost had a triple-double with 36 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. James had 26 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds. LaRavia, starting in the absence of Rui Hachimura, had 26 points, five rebounds and four assists. It was the second straight time LaRavia, who came in averaging 9.1 points, scored 20-plus.

A back-and-forth game featured several lead changes in the fourth quarter, with the Lakers and Grizzlies taking turns delivering in tense moments. The Lakers finally took the lead for good at 100-99 on a basket by Doncic.

Read more:Plaschke: Thank you, L.A. sports teams, for saving me during the worst year

Then James scored on a three-point play and made one of two free throws for a 104-99 lead with 3 minutes 49 seconds left.

The Lakers (22-11) had an answer for every Grizzlies counter, the final stamp on the game being Doncic’s back-to-back three-pointers for a nine-point lead with 2:01 left.

The NBA scheduling the Lakers to host the Grizzlies on Friday and again Sunday was not an issue for coach JJ Redick.

“I like it,” Redick said. “I do think it does replicate [the playoffs] in some ways. A playoff series, particularly when it's not a home-and-away situation, but more of you're playing a two-game series on somebody's home court for the day in between. Had a few of these last year. So, I like this for our team and it's a good growth opportunity. Coming off a win, knowing that there's a lot of stuff that we can be better at and where can we make improvements. That's the big challenge to me.”

For Redick, that meant what it always does for the Lakers — improving on defense.

Redick wanted his team to get back on defense faster and not let the Grizzlies (15-20) get so many early-offense opportunities.

The Lakers also wanted to jump-start center Deandre Ayton from a five-game slumber.

Ayton had just four points on two-for-four shooting against the Grizzlies on Friday night. Prior to that, he hadn’t scored over 12 points over a four-game stretch.

So, the Lakers went to Ayton at the outset of Sunday night’s game, trying to ignite his game.

It worked to a degree, Ayton scoring 15 points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.