I'm kidding guys, late April Fools joke, but I was serious about the D-Jax signing with the Redskins, could've used him to open up receivers for Schaub to throw to, plus imagine the play actions with MJD and DMC. Anyway, that's Raider talk I'll save for later. So welcome in to the full recap where I said before Nick Young had a great performance, but it was not enough to upset the Blazers at the end of the day.
The Positives
Nick Young, 40 points, 15-26 shooting, 6-13 from 3 point land. What a night for Nick Young, even though it came on the losing end. If you're a fantasy owner and you started him today, he provided solid stats for your field goal percentage and points category and he gave me a big boost this game against my opponent in the championship round. Anyway, like I said in my halftime post, Young hasn't felt like he missed a beat ever since returning from his leg injury, he's provided decent numbers ever since he came back. Obviously a scary moment in the 3rd where his ribs accidentally bumped into Chris Kaman in a putback dunk attempt, but he managed to shake it off and drained a three, I mean Swaggy P, enough said.
Steve Nash, 10 points, 10 assists. He's been in and out of the court this game, I never expected him to play as much minutes as he did as he's trying to get himself healthy, but when Nash was on the floor, the offense was really clicking and players were finding their shots. For what it's worth, Nash didn't need to push himself to play this game, but he did, and did what he can to command the Lakers' offense, who knows if he wasn't on the floor, this margin of defeat would've been much bigger. Of course, no assumptions should be made.
Kent Bazemore, 17 points, 6-10 shooting. Bazemore's heart never ceases to amaze me and other Laker fans. He's a story in the making if he's able to keep up like this into the next season.
The Negatives
Pau Gasol, 9 points, 4-9 shooting. I'm not really going to hold it on Gasol for doing poorly this game, he's 4 games removed after suffering vertigo, dizziness from past concussions I think. I don't know, I'm no medical expert, don't want to make excuses, but Gasol gets a free pass.
2nd half shot selection and defense. Lakers gave up a lot in the 2nd half, ranging from a helping the Blazers make 3 point plays, poor shooting, and giving guys like Lilard, Batum, and Matthews open looks. The Lakers did a good job containing the Blazers team at first, but when Portland's dynamic duo in Lilard and Aldridge get going, like they did, the Blazers will put up as many high scoring numbers as they can and they didn't shoot well too, talk about insult to injury.
Conclusion
Overall, the Lakers just started to drift away in the 2nd half, and usually when they do that, the game's already out of reach, that's the pattern we've seen all season long. They were able to make runs in a couple of games, but the deficits are just too much to dig out of. The season's almost over. There are 4 more games to cover. The Lakers have another back-to-back schedule facing the Kings in Sacramento tomorrow night and their next nationally televised game is against the Clippers is April 6. I'll see you guys for that game and I'll try to cover that game as quick as possible because I want to see WrestleMania 30, even though the build for this year has been lackluster. Anyway, I'm out. Stay classy.
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