Before Friday, the last time the Portland Trail Blazers really got taken to the woodshed was when the Memphis Grizzlies beat them 134-89 on November 10th. After that brutal loss the Blazers ran off three wins in a row for the only time this season. Two of those wins were against the heavily fancied Minnesota Timberwolves.
Will history repeat itself? Portland got the first part done, getting obliterated by a poor Utah Jazz team, 141-99. Three wins in a row would mean beating the Los Angeles Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns. I’m not sure I’d make that parlay.
The Lakers meanwhile seem to be staring mortality in the face at the moment, losing their last three games and seven out of their last nine. The Lakers have their own recent experience of suffering a smackdown, losing 134-93 to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. On Friday they at least kept it close but in the end lost 134-132 in overtime to the Atlanta Hawks.
Portland Trail Blazers (8-15) at Los Angeles Lakers (12-11) - Sun. Dec. 8 - 6:30pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; League Pass everywhere else
Trail Blazers injuries: Donovan Clingan, Matisse Thybulle, Robert Williams III (out); Duop Reath, Toumani Camara (doubtful); Scoot Henderson (questionable)
Lakers injuries: Christian Wood, Jaxon Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Austion Reaves, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Bronny James (out)
SB Nation Affiliate:Silver Screen and Roll
Blazer’s Edge Reader Questions
RedUniInLA:
Is it stupid that I paid for NBA League Pass but because I live in LA I can’t watch the game because I’m in the local market of the team the Blazers are playing against?
100%. It’s also understandable. If your company bought the rights to show Lakers games in LA, you wouldn’t want a bunch of your prospective audience watching the game through another method that brings you no revenue.
I’m a big Timbers fan, and I thought Major League Soccer (MLS) had it cracked. They have a non-exclusive deal with AppleTV to show all of their games on a distinct paid service for $99 per year. When I say all games, I mean all games, with no blackouts. Sometimes games are on TV as well, but you can stream every game. Even better, season ticket holders like me get the package for free. In general, I really like the service, but the most frustrating thing is that MLS schedules so many games on the same day at the same time. Why MLS, why?
Anyway, I thought the MLS TV deal might usher in a new era of blackout-less TV contracts, but so far it doesn’t seem to have caught on with other leagues.
TheZink1:
Will the scrappy Blazers or the sleepy Blazers show up?
I’ll go with scrappy. The Blazers have usually responded pretty well to poor losses, for example, following up a 134-89 loss to Memphis with a 122-108 win against Minnesota. Chances are good the Blazers will shake this loss off too and put on a better performance in LA.
Rileyblog1:
What is the determining factors for these blowouts? It seems like they play their worst after 3-day breaks, but would love to hear your thoughts.
Youth. These guys are young, and they were picked by pundits near and far to be one of the worst teams in the NBA this season. The fact that they occasionally look like one of the worst teams in the NBA shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. In fact, the fact that they have eight wins so far should be a bigger surprise than getting blown out once in a while.
If you want a different kind of answer, it’s largely down to shooting. The Blazers shot 29.8% from deep and 38.9% from the field against Utah. Including free-throws, they missed 97 times. You could build a house out of all those bricks. We’ve see some good nights shooting the ball for the Blazers, but they are not consistently good at it. Until that changes, whether through development, trades, or the draft, these things are going to happen.
Thanks as always for the questions!
What to Watch For
Don’t let the whistles get you down. The Lakers have the least number of fouls called against them and are fourth in the NBA in drawing fouls. You can come up with all kinds of reasons for this, some reasonable and some not, but the fact is it’s a lead-pipe cinch the Lakers will have a better whistle than the Blazers. Portland can use that as an excuse or they can use it as motivation. We’ll see what they choose to do.
What Others Are Saying
LeBron is complaining about LA’s lack of depth, but Mike Gunzelman of OutKick writes that LeBron has to shoulder some of the blame for that problem.
What’s ironic about James’s comments, however, is that the Lakers literally could have had one more person on their bench to at least add some relief to their depth problem. But instead, LeBron pressured the team to draft his son, Bronny James, with the 55th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft.
Alex Regla of Sliver Screen and Roll writes about a big part of the Lakers’ recent problems: Anthony Davis.
Perhaps it started when Davis suffered an eye injury against the Toronto Raptors. Maybe it was the bruised heel that forced him to miss a game. Or, potentially, it was due to the plantar fasciitis Davis stated he had been dealing with since late last season.
Whatever the reason, Davis has gone from looking like one of the leading candidates for MVP to just pedestrian on recent nights. As a result, the Lakers have spiraled down the standings and suffered multiple blowouts, including an “embarrassing” 41-point loss to the Heat.
Is it time to panic for the Lakers? It depends on if you knew what was up before the season, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (subscription required).
If you had high expectations for the Lakers this season, then I guess you should panic. But if you’ve paid attention to the Lakers before JJ Redick was hired as coach, then you realize any panic is performative. More or less, this is who they are.