The short-lived Portland Trail Blazers half looked at the task of standing at the top of defending champion Los Angeles Lakers. If NBA games were only 24 minutes! After a second half of adjustments and ultra-aggressive defense, the Lakers were able to pull away for a 102-93 victory. The loss sent Portland to 18-14, and back to No. 6 spot in the West Conference standings. The silver lining is that Portland only has three games left before he’s a full week off to rest and recover. Not to encourage mediocrity, but in recent seasons, no. 6 and water trap above here .500 would have been a welcome sight for the Blazers during the first half of a schedule. Right? Anyway, here’s a look at the summary.
One has to imagine that during the flight to STAPLES Center, the Blazers watched the band from last season’s Western Conference. Early on, Portland looked at the part of a team that took revenge.
They jumped 15-4 advantage and created more breakfast than a bakery during breakfast. Anchored by the infectious energy of Gary Trent Jr., forced them to give away four in the first six minutes – this after forcing just one turnover within 48 minutes against Denver on Tuesday – and that kept them away from Los Angeles’ No. 1 position on the defense of the halfway line. .
How the Stars Defended in the First Quarter was probably the most intriguing story. After struggling to defend LeBron James in last summer’s post-season, they had to be inspired by the results with Derrick Jones Jr. On the other hand, Damian Lillard looked up the challenge, with 15 points on 5-out-8 from the field. He favored the Blazers to one to 29-24.
Basketball is, as they say, a game of chess, and it was around this time that Frank Vogel and Terry Stotts started moving their pieces. The Lakers seem to be taking a page from the book of recent opponents on how they defend Lillard. In the pick-and-roll direction, they made a focused effort to get to the dribble on his left, where he is most dangerous in pull-up situations, while also keeping some size in his environment. Lillard was the creator, and found other ways to ‘go hunting’ for his shot – as CJ McCollum would say – with incoming cuts and quick pulls in transition.
Beyond the predominant storyline, this game offers more positive aspects in terms of Gary Trent Jr. ‘s development as an overall scorer. He has Portland’s no. Became a 2-point producer, averaging 19.0 points over his last 16 games. He put the ability to score on all three levels on the band, as well as creating his own shot.
The end of the second quarter was a test in resilience; Lillard did a thing with a textbook defender-trap-under-the-shooter singles game, and Jones Jr. and Robert Covington experienced problems. Still, the Blazers had a slight 57-54 lead in the second half.
After much of the first half to absorb the Blazers’ best haymakers, the Los Angeles Lakers opened the third quarter to be ready to send a message: they are still the biggest heavyweight of the Western Conference.
Portland did not quite have an answer for the energy of the Lakers players, namely Alex Caruso, Montrezl Harrell and Kyle Kuzma. Two statistics in particular – points of turnover and offensive setbacks – show the difference.
The Lakers scored 20 points of its turnover and 12 offensive setbacks in the fourth quarter. Therefore, the Lakers won the quarter 31-19 and led the fourth quarter 85-76.
If you’re looking for a quote or an audio clip describing this game, stop by if you’ve heard it, thanks to Richard Jefferson of ESPN: “They need someone else to start shooting because they’re adjusting their defense to stop Damian Lillard.”
The Blazers played with moxie, but as Terry Stotts would say, Portland just could not make enough shots. The offense was scheme-inactive, except for a position from Lillard, but Portland had a chance to reduce the backlog. They used Lillard’s gravity in the pick-and-roll or double-drag screens to stretch the Lakers’ defense, but could not throw a rock into the sea.
That, after all, was the order of the game. It turns out to be a tail of two halves, in terms of how aggressive Los Angeles was in defending Lillard. In their victory tonight, they made a statement: you cut off the snake’s head and the rest of it will not survive. They held one of the NBA’s best second-half teams to just 36 points with the suffocating defense. As tonight’s game shows, Portland may still have ways to reach the top of the West.
At this point, it was obvious that the players of Damian Lillard lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. One could say he was not quite the same after Talen kicked Horton-Tucker under his foot in the first half with his 3-point attempt. That he was still able to attract the attention he did is remarkable. A few bounce here or there, and maybe it’s finally become a different game.
– Talk about running out of time. The Blazers’ 36 points in the second half were tied for the worst of the season. Their offense is half no longer dry since their loss to Indiana on January 14th.
It’s unclear who is pointing the finger first, but the Blazers could not find a way to score on the Lakers traps on Lillard, nor when he was off the floor. The second unit combined 13 points on 16 shots. Getting one of them going also changes the scene of this game.
The Blazers are hoping to end the final run of the “first half” of their schedule on a high note, with a home game against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Pacific.
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