The Portland Trail Blazers faced the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night in a game where L.A. missed vast swaths of their normal lineup. LeBron James did not play, nor did scoring guard Austin Reeves. Absent two of their three leading scorers, the Lakers looked an awful lot like Anthony Davis surrounded by a G League lineup, ultimately including THE Bronny James.
Under those conditions, almost any credible NBA team should have been able to give L.A. a run for their money. Portland did, mostly. A big second-quarter run for the Lakers put them ahead comfortably. The Blazers closed again, but L.A. had enough to hold on for a 107-98 victory.
Here are some of the factors that typified the action.
AD vs DA
Without LeBron James, the Lakers went to Anthony Davis to anchor their scoring. Deandre Ayton did a credible job on him when the two centers went one-on-one in isolation. But the Lakers started setting screens to free up Davis just a little bit. Whenever Ayton got even mildly out of position, Davis barbequed him. So, too, when the Blazers switched and/or guarded Davis with a smaller player while Ayton sat.
Similar things happened on the other end, just on a smaller scale. Ayton wasn’t able to overcome Davis on his own. When the Blazers ran action to free Deandre, he got to the rim (or got open for short jumpers) and capitalized.
Los Angeles went to Davis far more than Portland went to Ayton, however. As a result, their respective stats weren’t close, even though both played credibly. Davis finished the game with 30 points, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 2 steals in 32 minutes. Ayton had 14 points and 19 rebounds in 35 minutes before fouling out of the game.
Second Unit Tempo
Portland’s bench squad must have made the heart of Head Coach Chauncey Billups stir, at least in one way. The returning Scoot Henderson and omnipresent Deni Avdija pushed tempo every chance they got. You could see the pace quicken the instant that pair took the floor. It didn’t result in an immediate upsurge in scoring, partially because both are unsteady offensively. It did bait the Lakers into an up-and-down game that kept the playing field more than even for a while, since it largely took the lumbering Davis out of the equation.
That Defense Tho
That’s not to say everything went right with the bench squad. With the score close in the second period, Henderson got burned for back-to-back fast break layups. Then he and his teammates failed to guard the three-point arc. Los Angeles scored 10 points in a little over a minute, beginning the surge that would take them over the top. It’s a typical story this year. Portland can put one or two things together, but three fall apart at the same time.
Prime Scorers
The Lakers weren’t the only team whose best players didn’t show up for the game. Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons technically saw the floor, playing 32 and 31 minutes, respectively. Between them they shot just 6-25 from the field, 2-13 from the three-point arc. Simons scored 14 and Grant 3 off of season averages of 15.9 and 16.6, respectively. Not having scoring punch severely inhibited Portland’s chances of winning.
Shaedon Sharpe made up for it with 19 points on 7-15 shooting in 34 minutes, but that only goes so far. He had pop in the first half but even he couldn’t save the Blazers in the second.
Assists
With James, their leading assist man, out of the lineup, it stood to reason that the Lakers might have trouble passing the ball tonight in their cobbled-together lineup. Unfortunately the Blazers couldn’t make them pay. Portland’s defense just wasn’t good enough in the halfcourt. Los Angeles ended up with 25 assists on 38 made buckets. Portland couldn’t even come close to keeping pace, with 17 assists on 35 makes.
For perspective, Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell dished 14 dimes, almost as much as the Trail Blazers did cumulatively.
Scoot Over
In the absence of most anybody else taking over the offense, Henderson stepped into that role in the second half. His most memorable moment came at the end of the third period where he intercepted a full-court Lakers pass with 2.7 seconds remaining then dribbled up the floor, hitting a bank shot from well beyond halfcourt at the buzzer. He was also super active driving and at least trying to pass. It was a little bit of a star turn for the beleaguered second-year point guard. Now if the defense would only catch up...
Henderson finished the game with 13 points on 3-6 shooting but had no assists.
Turnovers
It’s appropriate that this piece of analysis comes last, because at the end of the day, this is what killed Portland’s chances of creeping back in the game for a chance to win. The Blazers were within three to start the fourth period, but they turned over the ball like they were allergic to it in the final frame. This not only robbed Portland of potential points, it led to a raft of easy threes for Los Angeles. The Blazers finished with 18 total turnovers for the game leading to 26 Lakers points, almost a quarter of their total scoring production.
Up Next
Boxscore
The Blazers play next on Friday night, facing the San Antonio Spurs with a 7:00 PM, Pacific start.