While missing Alex Caruso and LeBron James and Anthony Davis watching the thread whether they would play or not, the Lakers mostly looked exactly as tired and not interested in playing hard on defense, as you would expect of a team that still finds their sea legs of the shortest turnaround in NBA history. As a result, it may not come as a surprise that they dropped one to the Portland Trail Blazers, although they still managed to make the game a 115-107 competitive defeat despite their inertia.
It was a game of runs, with the Lakers starting the game doubling the Blazers 20-10, but Portland fought back with several runs of their own to take a four-point lead at halftime. The Lakers started with a 19-3 run to start the third quarter, but the Blazers never stopped fighting, and Gary Trent Jr. (28 points at 7-11 from the depths) never cooled down.
And despite being seemingly in it, the Lakers – apart from Dennis Schröder – played this game mostly halfway, apart from a few strong pieces, and it eventually returned, when the Blazers’ tries kept falling and the Lakers did not have the margin of error that the defense of Portland’s earlier attempts would give them. That allowed Portland to start one last big run to open the fourth quarter, and even when the Lakers tried to close, with just six, they allowed an offensive rebound result by Jusuf Nurkic that led to has that he the game of jumper of his own to an assist of Damian Lillard. The attempt was just not tonight for the defending champion, who is going to happen in a strange season like this. It is what it is.
The Lakers were 57-0 last season (including the playoffs) when they were ahead after three quarters. Tonight they led 85-84 in the 4th Q and lost 115-107. New season, indeed.
– Dave McMenamin (@mcten) 29 December 2020
Apart from Schröder (who finished with 24 points and 4 assistants in another solid effort), the rest of the beginners were mostly good, as everyone ends up with a positive (or neutral, exactly 0 from LeBron) in plus-minus. Meanwhile, every Lakers bench player ended up with a negative one, in a clear indication of where things went wrong tonight, even though the beginners barely looked like they were completely themselves, with both James and Davis’ subnames by their standards. while playing through and returning from injuries, respectively.
But honor to the Blazers. They wanted this one clearly, and they went out and took it. Their victory will drop the Lakers to 2-2 this season, and LA will have time to recover on Tuesday before heading to San Antonio to face the Spurs in their first road game of the season. In the meantime, do not stress too much about this one. Losses in such circumstances are only going to happen this season. Do not get excited about it, because the team is definitely not going to.
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