LOS ANGELES (AP) — Luka Doncic scored 34 points — half on free throws — and LeBron James added 31 as the Los Angeles Lakers rallied to beat the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies 128-121 on Friday night to open a two-game set.
The teams will meet again Sunday in Los Angeles.
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Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., right, reacts after being called for a foul on Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left shots as Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Memphis Grizzlies center Jock Landale, right, shoots as Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Memphis Grizzlies center Christian Koloko, left, is hit in the face by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James as they wait for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Doncic had eight assists and six rebounds. James had nine rebounds and six assists. The superstars dominated the fourth quarter, highlighted by a 12-2 run that put it out of reach. Doncic scored four points and assisted on two 3-pointers while James closed out the spurt with a basket.
The Grizzlies were missing six players, including Zach Edey. They had six players in double figures.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 25 points to lead the Grizzlies, who have dropped four of six and fell two games under .500 on the road. Former Laker Kentavious Caldwell-Pope added 20 points. Ja Morant had 16 points and 11 assists coming off his 40-point game in an overtime loss to Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Jake Laravia had 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds for the Lakers.
The Lakers blew a 15-point lead in the second quarter after the Grizzlies ran off 18 straight points to take a three-point lead, their first of the game. Caldwell-Pope hit two of the Grizzlies' four 3-pointers in the spurt with Jock Landale adding seven points.
Caldwell-Pope's back-to-back 3-pointers forced a 96-all tie going into the fourth.
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Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., right, reacts after being called for a foul on Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, left shots as Memphis Grizzlies forward Santi Aldama defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Memphis Grizzlies center Jock Landale, right, shoots as Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic defends during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Memphis Grizzlies center Christian Koloko, left, is hit in the face by Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James as they wait for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
It turns out, love may benefit from a little less labor.
Couples who spend money on time-saving services — like getting takeout, hiring a housecleaner or calling a dog walker — report greater relationship satisfaction, especially during stressful periods, says Ashley Whillans, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School.
Whillans studies the “tradeoffs people make between time and money.”
“When you spend money to save time — hiring an accountant, a babysitter, a cleaner — you feel more control over your life,” she said. “That sense of autonomy boosts well-being.”
Not everyone can afford to outsource bigger household chores. But Whillans says even a little bit can help. She advises couples to take a “time audit” — examining how they spend their hours and what small changes could reclaim even a few moments.
“People underestimate how much these choices matter,” she said. “It’s not about luxury — it’s about freeing up time to connect.”
Whillans’ team tracked busy, dual-income couples — partners working full-time who often report feeling time-starved — and found consistent patterns. In one six-week diary study, couples who made “time-saving purchases” on a given day were happier and more satisfied with their relationships.
Simply outsourcing chores isn’t a magic fix, however.
“It’s about being intentional with the time you get back — using it to spend quality time together, to reconnect," Whillans said.
“Think of that half hour not as an opportunity to send more emails, but as a chance to spend time with your partner."
Targol Hasankhani, a Chicago-based marriage and family therapist, stressed that while outsourcing domestic labor can ease daily stress, it doesn’t replace communication. Juggling careers and kids takes a toll on families, and housework is often freighted with resentments over who is doing it.
“If conflict around chores is rooted in something deeper — like inequity or not feeling heard — hiring a cleaner won’t solve that,” she said.
Couples must dig deeper to address problems with many layers.
“It opens up time and space, but couples still have to know how to show up for each other in that space,” Hasankhani said.
Casey Mulligan Walsh, 71, a former speech pathologist and author in upstate New York, said the best part about hiring a housecleaner once a week was that it freed up time for her and her husband to spend together.
“My favorite day of the week was coming home to a clean house,” she said. “We’d go get coffee together instead of arguing about who should vacuum.”
Getting started on delegating household tasks isn’t easy for some couples, Whillans said. Besides the cost, "it takes time to find someone and coordinate — but the long-term payoff is real.”
And making such decisions together can deepen trust and a sense of teamwork.
For one Colorado couple, outsourcing started as an act of love.
“When I started dating, my now-husband noticed how hard I was working — at my job, at home and as a single mom,” said Melissa Jones, a 45-year-old teacher in Pueblo.
His Valentine's Day gift? A deep housecleaning.
“It was truly amazing,” Jones said. “After that, I kept it up on my own for years. When my husband and I moved in together, we decided to continue.”
“We’re able to make memories with each other, our kids and our families instead of spending weekends scrubbing floors," she said.
In Miami, Elizabeth Willard, 59, runs The Pickled Beet, a culinary service preparing customized meals.
“Most of the people I cook for are trying to invest in their health but don’t have the time,” she said, noting that families often juggle mixed dietary needs. “Sometimes the husband’s a carnivore and the wife’s vegetarian, one child’s celiac. They’re exhausted trying to make everyone happy.”
Her clients, often families with children and two working parents, are "not fighting over what’s for dinner. It’s one less daily decision.”
Whether ordering a pizza, paying a teenager to mow the lawn, or calling a car service to save 20 minutes, the outcome can be the same: Buying back time can buy peace.
FILE - Dog walker Kathleen Chirico strolls with a pack of dogs during a warm day along the Hudson River, May 2, 2018, in Hoboken, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - A couple stands on a jetty as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean in Bal Harbour, Fla., Sept. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
