Blazers Make It Rain From Three As Lakers Fall In LeBron's First Game
SteemSports Presenter:@mateonav53
SteemSports Editor:@scottybuckets
Everything in the Lakers basketball spectrum was on display in Portland during Thursday night's 128-119 Blazers victory. The highs were incredibly and the lows were jarringly apparent. It was a manifestation of what the Laker's entire season will shape up to be if they keep this current roster. In terms of the good, we saw LeBron give us some Sportscenter highlights, and got positive performances from LeBron (26 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 9/16 shooting) Brandon Ingram (16 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks, 715 shooting) and Josh Hart (20 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals, 2 blocks 8/12 shooting). In other good news, the Lakers ran the floor like Showtime (34 transition points to 12), and put on a display of overall exciting play in the first quarter. The list of bad included lack of proficient big men available, rebounding, turnovers, and the big two DEFENSE and SHOOTING.
Lebron's first points as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers came on the classic tomahawk throw-down that he's known for. It sent the building nuclear among the minority of Laker fans in attendance. Right after that, Damian Lillard came back with a gigantic slam of his own - and then LeBron countered with another tomahawk dunk of his own! In a span of 10 seconds we got three huge dunks from the biggest star on each team. It was a brief first-quarter exchange that made us feel like we were primed for an amazing night of basketball.
LeBron took a rest for the first time with a little less than three minutes to go, and the Lakers gave up 7 quick points in a row to narrow it to a one-point game, 28-29. They basically turned into hot doo-doo once he sat down. They just didn't have anyone to score, nor defend the interior. It was basically Lance Stephenson going one-on-one. Portland grabbed the lead back off a Stauskas three, 31-28. The Trailblazers ended the first quarter up three, 34-31.
The second quarter began, and Nik Stauskas was channeling the power of Steph Curry. He hit a couple three's to get the Portland crowd going, then sunk a way-too-deep three-bomb to put some sauce on the Lakers. LeBron came back in and it felt like the Lakers had a chance again, but Portland kept up the offense party despite LeBron re-entering. They pushed the lead up to 10, 50-40, with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. No one on the Lakers could hit a three-pointer for the life of them. They were a discouraging 0-12 from deep.
Despite that, the Lakers hung in there by getting buckets in the painted area. They cut the lead to four, 53-57 off of their bread-and-butter combination of floor running and whipped passes. They closed it out strong to give Portland only a two-point lead heading into the half, 65-63. Portland deserves credit for bouncing back after the initial excitement of LeBron's first dunks. Damian Lillard had 13 points while Nik Stauskas had 16 to lead the Blazers heading into the second half. LeBron led the Laker charge 18 points of his own.
Jusuf Nurkic was just running wild on the Lakers to begin the third quarter. JaVale McGee couldn't be everywhere on the court at once, so Nurkic was out here prospering. The Lakers really need another proper big to back up/play next to Javale occasionally. Neither LA nor Portland were shooting particularly hot, but Lillard got cooking on his own to get the home crowd going as the Blazers jumped ahead 79-72.
Brandon Ingram was the one taking the initiative for the Lakers. He was being aggressive and making an effort to get to his spots and his shots. He had 10 points in the third quarter alone with four minutes remaining. LA's defense finally found a bit of focus and they translated that to transition points at the other end. Los Angeles cut it to one, 78-79 as Portland took a timeout to regroup. The Lakers finally grabbed the lead back with two minutes left, 82-81, but Portland quickly took it back with a paint bucket on the other end. Finally, Josh Hart hit the first three-pointer of the Lakers season to put them up 85-83. Portland then went on a mini-run spurred by some great defensive play from backup big Zach Collins. Josh Hart hit a three at the buzzer to give LA some hope heading into the fourth, but the Blazers walked into the final quarter retaining the slight advantage, 93-91.
LeBron came in to start the fourth, but he wasn't dominating the ball right out of the gate. Josh Hart was stepping up nicely on the Lakers on the offensive end, accumulating 17 points on 7/10 shooting. The Lakers were making a run as they got it close again, 100-101, but Portland came back with a pair of Lillard and Stauskas three's to kill the momentum. After a Laker timeout, the Blazers continued with an onslaught of three-points to push it to a 10 point lead, 114-104 with five minutes to play. The Lakers threatened them late with a Hart and Kuzma three, but Damian Lillard iced the game with and and-1 bucket with one minute to play. Blazers win 128-119.
Damian Lillard was the man for the Blazers(28 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 9/21 shooting), doing what he had to do to cop the W for the hometown fans. CJ McCollum pitched in 21 points to go with 5 rebounds and 1 assist, while Nik Stauskas caused a ruckus off the bench with 24 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on 7/11 shooting. The Trail Blazers have now won 16 consecutive games over the Lakers.
Overall, SB Nation Lakers reporter Christian Rivas said it best when he dryly tweeted out "The Lakers look like a 35-win team that added LeBron James". They only won 35 games last year after battling a rash of injuries to their young core, and it's clear they have a looooot to work on. They missed their first fifteen three-point shots as a team before Josh Hart made one for the Lakers. That embarrassing clip isn't going to happen every night, but lackluster shooting will be a nightly theme for this squad without a knockdown shooter. The shooting was so putrid that the concern for a backup big paled in comparison.
There was a lot to unpack and analyze after only 48 minutes of basketball. New questions and concerns are just beginning to form for LeBron and his new team. We will get a chance to analyze more Laker basketball when the team travels back to Staples Center to play the Houston Rockets on Saturday at 7:30 PM Pacific time.
Thank you for following @steemsports and you can find me @mateonav53
Lillard woke up in the 4th...
Yea. Whole team was going wild! Lakers missing every three reminded me of the rockets in game 7. They weren't hitting any yet they still kept chucking
Gonna be a bumpy ride for the Lakers in the first half of the season.
They'll be ready for the next match.
Amen to that
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