(Basketball news) Los Angeles sealed their place in the Eastern COnference semifinals as they beat the Memphis Grizzlies 125-85 in game 6 to clinch the series 4-2. For the Lakers, Anthony Davis had 16 points and 14 rebounds while blocking five shots in a spectacular defensive performance, D’Angelo Russell scored a career playoff-high 31 while LeBron James scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting as they clinched a playoff series in their own arena for the first time since 2012.

For the Grizzlies, Ja Morant scored 10 points on 3-of-16 shooting while Desmond Bane, who guaranteed a Game 7, had 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting, while Jaren Jackson Jr. had 14 on 3-of-12 shooting. The Lakers will now face either the Sacramento Kings or the defending Champions Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semi finals

“We didn’t want to go back to Memphis, to say the least,” said Austin Reaves, who had 11 points, eight assists and six rebounds. “We wanted to end it tonight, home court, so we were super locked-in.”

“This thing is just getting started,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “We passed Level 1. Now we’ve got to start shifting our focus to whoever comes out of that game on Sunday. LeBron had some great words of wisdom he shared after the game. It’s about us, just as much as it’s about our opponent. We have to be the best versions of ourselves.”

“We didn’t play our best basketball at all, in my opinion, in these six games,” Memphis coach Taylor Jenkins said. “We got two wins in this series, but we were far from where we needed to play. Discipline, execution, defensively, the urgency, and then just our production on offense. … (we’ve) just got to find ways to get better. This is a feeling we’ve got to remember. It’s got to motivate us. It’s got to be understood that this is part of our evolution as a team.”

The Golden State Warriors had the chance to wrap the series but they couldn’t as the Sacramento Kings beat them 118-99. For the Kings, Malik Monk scored 28 points, De’Aaron Fox added 26 points and 11 assists, while Rookie Keegan Murray scored 15 points with four 3-pointers and grabbed 12 rebounds.

For the Warriors, Curry scored 29, Klay Thompson 22 and Kevon Looney pulled down 13 more rebounds. But the Kings, in the postseason for the first time since 2006, answered almost every big play by Golden State in the third quarter and capitalized on regular miscues. They outhustled the Warriors to the boards.

“This is exactly what I expected and I expect a little bit more from both teams in Golden 1,” Monk said. “We’re going to be prepared.”

“I thought we played hard but we didn’t play smart. We didn’t execute our game plan,” Looney said. “We know what we needed to do to win. All the small things, getting back in transition, the box-outs, the turnovers, different things like that, we didn’t execute.”

“They came out with more force and more energy and they executed better. The right team won, that’s for sure,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “They came in and earned the victory. And now we’ve got to regroup and get ready for Game 7.”

Also read: NBA: Celtics advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals while Heats shock the Bucks