This game was absolutely incredible and a great way to cap off a two-day celebration of the late, great Kobe Bryant. On this day of 8/24, the Lakers donned their Black Mamba-themed jerseys and embraced the "Mamba Mentality" on the floor. They took no prisoners tonight, dominating the hapless Blazers from start to finish to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Oh my goodness, this game was like being on "Cloud 9." If any Laker fan knows how Kobe Bryant played the game, he had that killer instinct and wanted to rip the hearts out of opponents time in and time out. Tonight, Kobe was guiding the Lakers in spirit.
To see how this all unfolded, Lakers jumped onto a 15-0 start at the first quarter. Portland couldn't buy a bucket until at the 7:52 mark. The defense made them work hard to earn a bucket. The offense was clicking tonight. LeBron was aggressive. AD was aggresive. Kyle Kuzma, KCP, and Danny Green were firing on all cylinders from three. For the entire 48 minutes of play, the Lake Show put on a clinic on both ends of the floor.
Portland never stood a chance and you could tell by their visible frustration by the 2nd quarter. Combined with their sloppy play and lack of rhythm on offense, they looked intimidated by the Lakers' defensive intensity. The only thing that kept them alive was that Jusuf Nurkic was crashing the boards. But for the most part, they were held in check. You know it's even worse for them when Dame and McCollum, their star backcourt tandem fail to score 20+ points. Lillard once again battled injuries in the third quarter and at that point, Blazers needed to wave the white flag because they had nothing going to get themselves back in the game.
Final stat lines: LeBron James was magnificent tonight with 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 10 assists. Through three quarters, he was in attack mode and absolutely gashed and demoralized the Blazers' defense tonight or lack thereof. AD followed with 18 points. It was reported that Davis sustained some back spasms in 3rd quarter and was ruled out for rest of the game. Lakers erred on the side caution, especially when they had the game under control. Danny Green chipped in 14 points with three 3-pointers. KCP had 12 points. Kyle Kuzma lead the bench in scoring with 18 points and Dwight followed with 13 points. Javale McGee, Alex Caruso, and Markieff Morris also contributed small details to impact the game for the Lakers. Special shout out to them. It was an all-around team win.
And on this day of honoring Kobe, there was an "Easter Egg" in the first quarter and almost another one at the end of the first half. At the 4:30 mark of the first quarter, Lakers scored 24 points and held the Blazers to 8 points. It's a coincidental nod to the two jerseys that Kobe wore in his 20-year career with the Lakers. We almost had another one at the end of the first half, when the Lakers dropped 80 points, one point shy of matching Kobe's career high of 81 points against the Raptors back in 2006. I'll admit, I was greedy and yelling: "please score a three or get an 'and 1' to hang 81 at the half!" Honestly, with the way this game was going, it was a good time to be a bit of a homer. But, this is something Hollywood can't even make up. I'll say it again, this game was incredible and a surreal experience, especially when you reflect on the significance of Kobe Bryant's legacy.
With this game in the books, the Lakers are now one win away from advancing to the Conferencr semifinals since 2012. Don't expect the Trail Blazers to go down quietly. They'll fight to the end with their backs up against the wall and the Lakers must be wary of that. The message is simple: take care of business and close out in Game 5 on Wednesday night. I'll see you guys later.
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