Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura carried the Lakers early and D’Angelo Russell caught fire in the fourth as the Lakers picked up another win at home even with LeBron James on Sunday, taking down the Blazers, 107-98.
Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura had dominant games. AD ended with 30 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Rui scored 23 points with five rebounds and three steals. D’Angelo Russell heated up in the second half and ended with 28 points and 14 assists off the bench.
Quincy Olivari played his first rotation minutes of the season with the Lakers down several players, including LeBron. Quincy ended with three points in six minutes.
It was AD vs. the Blazers early as he took over the scoring, making four of his first six shot attempts. Rui got in on the fun with a dunk of his own.
Halfway through the quarter, AD was the first player in double digits. Still, Portland was playing pretty well and had established a lead of as many as six.
The Lakers went on a three-minute scoring drought, which put Portland up by four. LA’s shooting had dropped to 29%. Los Angeles struggled heavily defensively with AD being the only one doing anything.
At the end of the first, the purple and gold were down six. Neither team could make a bucket to start the second until Quincy Olivari knocked down a 3-pointer for his first NBA points.
That was followed by a midrange shot by Dalton. The Blazers were still playing a notch better than LA and had a lead of eight.
Rui scored four straight points to make it a four-point game. Cam Reddish found Dalton with a bounce pass on a fastbreak to pull within two. Rui was red hot, scoring on back-to-back 3-pointer.
The Lakers found themselves leading and with all the momentum. After Portland had gotten it to a three-point game, the Lakers extended their lead to 14. At halftime, the Lakers were up 59-45.
The second half began with the Lakers 14-point lead vanishing to just five after a five-minute scoring drought. AD was the first to score for the Lakers on a layup.
LA’s lead started growing on the shoulders of AD and D’Lo. D’Lo passed to Dalton for a fastbreak dunk, putting the Lakers up by 12.
Portland continued playing well enough to keep cutting the deficit down, but LA managed to hit back each time. Once again, the Blazers trimmed the deficit to single digits, slowly creeping back into it each time LA missed shots.
At the end of the third, the Lakers were only up three after a buzzer-beater heave by Scoot Henderson.
A layup by Rui opened up the final frame for Los Angeles. He then did a great fake that led to a layup. His dominant play was huge for the Lakers, keeping their leads.
D’Lo knocked down his third 3-pointer of the game, but his court vision was important. He was up to 11 assists. The Lakers extended their lead to 10.
The quarter, though, belonged to D’Lo as he drilled yet another 3-pointer. He was up to five threes for the night and added another assist to his arsenal. Rui joined the party again with a 3-pointer and the Lakers found themselves up 17.
With 2:30 left, the Lakers emptied their bench with a win in their hands.
Key Takeaways:
After a stretch of games in which he seemed to be struggling with his shot, Rui has kicked it up several notches and is back to playing at the high level he was in at the start of the season. Rui’s great play is crucial for the Lakers.
Whenever D’Lo heats up and has an impressive game, this team is hard to beat.
Luckily for the Lakers, they’ll have some days off before their next game to rest up for a Wolves team they just lost to recently.
The Lakers’ next game will be Friday against the Minnesota Trail Blazers at 5:00 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at@KarinAbcarians.