What a thrilling game. After the Los Angeles Lakers made a big comeback at the Portland Trail Blazers early on, the guests made a great comeback. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope equalized shortly before the end, but Damian Lillard had the last word. Portland won 113-110.
The fact that Portland had suffered a bitter defeat in Utah the night before after extra time was not noticeable at first. The offense went like clockwork. Damian Lillard (32 points, 8/18 FG) and C. J. McCollum (22 points, 8/18 FG) had quickly found their touch, and Jusuf Nurkic (28 points, 5 assists, 12/20 FG) was digging underneath the basket.
But the longer the game lasted, the 18-point lead melted minute by minute. Brook Lopez (27 points, 9/15 FG) put the Lakers back into striking distance with some great moves and hung Noah Vonleh Fouls among others. An exciting game developed, which was on the edge of the knife from the middle of the third quarter onwards. In the last 12 minutes it got really wild. Both teams, who had been paying close attention to the ball before, did a lot of turnovers due to the up-coming hectic pace.
But thanks to their big three around Lillard, McCollum and Nurkic, the tired Blazers were able to resist. For the Lakers, Lopez was the Go-to-Guy with seven points in a row. Kyle Kuzma (22) brought L. A. one minute before the end, he came back with a point in front, but McCollum countered. The Lakers didn’t scort and Lopez committed a stupid foul against Nurkic, who pocketed both freebies for a three-point lead. 15.5 seconds to the end, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (14) pocketed a wild three-way equaliser (110:110). But that was not all, because Lillard countered again with a Stepback-Dreier about Brandon Ingram with another 0.7 seconds on the clock. Kuzma’s desperate triumvirate barely missed his target.
Portland came into the match ultra-hot. The Blazers’ backcourt was the first to go out. 41 points in the first quarter, that’s the number of points the Lakers hadn’t delivered in 12 minutes this season. The first six threes for Portland were down, with eleven assists on 15 field goals. The Lakers-Defense didn’t even do the worst job. Most of the throws were defended more than properly, but the blazers scuttled almost everything (15/21 FG).
However, the hosts then cooled down noticeably. The following six threesome just clapped against the ring or were airballs. Again, Nurkic was increasingly searched for under the basket. The Pick-n-Roll-Defense of the Lakers was often deficient and the Bosnian had so many freedoms that he knew how to use them. At the break the center already had 20 points (9/12 FG) on the account. He scanned not only with simple dunks or layers, but also showed some appealing hook casts or even floaters to prevent possible offensive fouls.
The Lakers were the worst team from a distance (only 30.6 percent) before the game and that shouldn’t change this evening. Until the break, there were only nine bricks hailed. Caldwell-Pope broke the spell after four minutes in the third quarter. It was also the first tour for L. A. However, 22.2 percent (4/18 threesomes) were not enough, and the good 54.4 percent of the field (43/79 FG) did not help either.
Instead, the Lakers increasingly sought their way into the zone, especially after the break. The guests had already drawn four fouls after two minutes and marched constantly to the line (20/27 FT). That’s how they got the Blazers-Bigs into big foul trouble. Vonleh (5) and Nurkic (4) were already sitting in the middle of the third quarter, so Blazers coach Terry Stotts also had to increasingly use the rookies Caleb Swanigan and Zach Collins.
18 turnovers per game the Lakers made before this game. At first, there was no sign of it against the Blazers. In the second quarter, the Lakers were left without a single ball loss, but in the end there were only 11, mainly due to the hectic closing phase.
Blazers vs. Lakers: This way to the BOXSCORE!
Damian Lillard. Started hot, but then went underground. His litter didn’t fall most of the time, but at the end of the third quarter the lady became much more aggressive than the Lakers had apparently brought the game under control. Zog drew countless fouls and consequently also marched to the line, where he gave himself absolutely no nakedness (14/14 FT). His game winner was of course the cherry on the cake.
Lonzo Ball. Very passive performance of this year’s Draft No. 2 Pick. Took only two throws before the break, one of them was blocked. Spalding mostly gave up quickly and played off-ball for the most part. He showed little movement. Cuts or something like that he didn’t run at all, which made it quite easy for Portland at times. The Blazers’ defensive force hardly respected the throwing of the ball and kept sinking from it to block the zone. After all, he played good defenses against Lillard, but the statline was not very good (0 points, 0/2 FG, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks).
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Lakers coach Luke Walton left his second-unit team without a starter and that worked better than with the starters. The Bigs Kuzma and Julius Randle gave the guests five potential ball handlers on the court. The switching game worked accordingly well and the blazers were not only caught on the wrong foot once. This lineup allowed the Lakers to rejoin the game after the bitter first quarter and only four points at the break. Also at the beginning of the fourth quarter it was this formation (Hart-Clarkson-Brewer-Kuzma-Randle) that was able to gain a small advantage, even if they played it again by some hectic actions.