Welcome in to the full recap of the Lakers' matchup at the Portland Trail Blazers where the Lakers threw everything in the play book to snap their long losing streak against Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. But, it came down to one final shot and Lillard has delivered in the clutch for the Blazers and breaking the hearts of the Lakers again to the final score of 110-113.
Still, you can't say nothing about that final shot by Damian Lillard. Brandon Ingram played really good defense on his shot and had a lot of length to disrupt the arc of the shot. Again, it was just better offense and as an NBA fan, you can't deny Dame's clutch gene. The Lakers had the right formula in stopping Portland's back court and the team as a whole. I feel the momentum started to slip midway through the 3rd quarter when the Lakers tried to be more flashy with their playmaking off their good defense. And some late game adjustments or lack thereof by Luke Walton also cost the Lakers the game.
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Brook Lopez, 27 points, 3 rebounds, 9-15 shooting. This was a throwback Brook Lopez game before he developed a 3-point shot. All game, he just kept taking Jusuf Nurkic down low in the paint and he was having his way. I made a comment in the 3rd quarter that I was seeing flashes of a prime Pau Gasol tonight. The Lakers kept sticking to one element that worked and that was attacking the rim. They fed the ball inside to Lopez and Lopez did the rest by backing up Nurkic or taking it strong into the paint.
Kyle Kuzma, 22 points, 3 rebounds. Kuzma had a good look on that final shot that would've tied the game. But, getting a quick high arcing, high percentage shot off with .7 seconds left is impossible to pull off. Nonetheless, this was an excellent game from Kuzma. In the 1st quarter, the Lakers dug themselves a hole early. There was not too much activity on either side of the ball for LA. Then Kuzma comes in and creates a run of his own to put the Lakers' back into the game, trailing by four or six points. As Reggie Miller said in the game, Kuzma, for a rookie, is calling his own plays to create his own shot.
Defensive intensity. This was present for 2 1/2 quarters. Obviously, it was non-existent for the Lakers as the Blazers jumped to a 25-41 lead in the first quarter. Then slowly, but surely, they picked up the intensity on defense. Full court press, trap defense, double teaming, you name them. The Laker defense swarmed like flies on the Blazers for the most part of the game.
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4th quarter coaching adjustments. The common denominator on Luke Walton's weakness as a coach is he doesn't see what kind of personnel the opposition has on the floor and he doesn't tailor his adjustments to match that personnel. The Blazers made the adjustment in putting Jusuf Nurkic back in in the 4th quarter to counter the Lakers' small ball lineup of Kuz and Randle. When I saw that, I said that Luke's gotta put Brook Lopez back in. But instead of that, he sticks to the current small ball lineup and Nurkic scores four straight points to spark the Blazers' run down the stretch. The NBA and sports in its entirety is all about a game of matchups. Walton has got to get better in understanding situation and personnel. This was the back breaker that ultimately cost the Lakers' shot in snapping the losing streak against the Blazers.
Lonzo Ball, 0 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists. Ball had some solid spurts defensively against Lillard tonight. But, other than that, where was Zo tonight? He was inexplicably M.I.A. tonight. Usually, when the ball was in his hands, he'd push the tempo or be aggressive and finding the balance in either getting someone else involved or scoring all the way to the hoop. I didn't see any of that tonight from Lonzo. He was very conservative and very pedestrian tonight.
Larry Nance's injury. This is exactly reminiscent like last season. Lakers' were off to a .500 start, then Nance gets hurt and everything comes crashing down on the Lakers. He's been a key cog in the Lakers' way of playing high intensity team defense with his hustle. They could've used him in the 4th quarter. Early prognosis on Nance's injury is a fractured metatarsal. He's definitely gonna miss some significant time.
MVP
Tonight's game had the closest MVP race. But, if I had to give it to one, it'd be Lopez. He was neck-and-neck, trading shots with Jusuf Nurkic in the post and he hit a go-ahead three late in the 4th to give the Lakers the lead. He may have developed a 3-point shot, but he still has some moves in the post.
Conclusion
Twelve games and now 13 games in and the Lakers still can't get one against the Blazers. They almost had it, but minor blunders down the stretch turned this game into a missed opportunity. This time of the season was the best time the Lakers could've snatched a win against this team. Because I'm sure by the time they meet again, Portland's is gonna try to make a playoff push. They're not going to toy around with bottom feeding teams anymore when that time comes. Anyway, the Lakers can't hang their heads on this loss. Because they have to fly back home to LA for tomorrow's game. They have to prep up for D'Angelo Russell's welcome back party as he and the Brooklyn Nets come to town. I want to cover that game so bad. But too bad the game is not going to be on ESPN or something. With the defense the Lakers are playing, it's going to entertaining to see if they'll hound D'Lo with the same defensive intensity. I'll provide a quick recap and commentary for that game and I'll see you guys for the Lakers' next nationally televised game, which I'm sure is on the road vs. Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics. Lakers-Celtics, the age-old rivalry continues. I'll see you guys later.
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