Los Angeles, CA — Behind the 48-point performance of Damian Lillard, the Portland Trail Blazers walked out of Staples Center with a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-119 on Friday night.
The arena was filled with high emotions as this was Los Angeles’ (36-11) first taste of action since Saturday when they were in Philadelphia. In addition, this was their first time hitting the hardwood since the tragic helicopter accident that took the lives of nine individuals, including NBA legend and fellow Laker legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna.
After the heartfelt tributes from artists and LeBron James, both teams understood the task at hand. The Trail Blazers (22-27) answered the bell and delivered a dominating win over their opponents.
My Duo is Better Than Yours
You can honestly look at this as a trio performance as Lillard, CJ McCollum and Hassan Whiteside who combined for 97 of the team’s 127 points in the game. However, this was definitely the Lillard and Whiteside show in the contest.
You could see in Lillard’s eyes before tip-off that he was on a mission. He wasn’t going to be playing around and arguably as the hottest man on the planet (averaging 48.4 points the last five games), it’s safe to say that he had a performance that would make Bryant proud.
The All-Star guard finished the game with 48 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds with 23 of his 48 coming in the third quarter. It seemed that after he got that technical foul, he completely was locked in the game and couldn’t be stopped. However the Lakers wanted it, he gave them that and more. He was pulling up from 30-33 feet and hitting nothing but nylon. In addition, he was able to get great production from his big man Whiteside.
Whiteside finished with 30 points, 12 boards and five block shots. He got a lot of his points from putbacks and easy dunks. However, a lot of it was because of Lillard’s hot shooting, especially to begin the second half. He was able to set the screens on the high side for his point guard and if the defense elected to show, Lillard would dump it down. The game becomes more fun when you have a point guard that reads the game like that even when he has the hot hand.
Anthony Davis and LeBron James had a great showing tonight, combining for 59 points. However, this Portland duo was the better in the matchup.
Apple Turnovers
When you look at the stat line as far as each team’s stats, the Lakers were dominant. However, when it came to taking care of the basketball, the Lakers couldn’t have been more asleep at the wheel. That’s what allowed Portland to walk out of Los Angeles with a great win.
Los Angeles committed 18 turnovers in the ballgame. To make matters worse, on top of the giveaways, the Lakers let one bad decision become two. The home team allowed 17 points off of their 18 turnovers – never a great sign. You had to have known that Portland knew that in the areas where the their opposition dominates, such as rebounds and points in the paint, they just wanted to be aggressive in other ways.
Now the Lakers’ turnovers were committed by ill-advised passes, but it’s still no excuse to allow the road team to do that on your home floor.
The Trail Blazers only gave up the rock seven times. This stat is what tells all the story when you look back at this game schematically. Portland took care of the ball and Los Angeles didn’t. It’s really that simple. To put it into perspective, Portland is a team that turns the ball over about 13 times a night.
To have been able to take care of the orange like they did is really a testament to them making the right decisions.
Up Next
The Los Angeles Lakers will travel to Sacramento to take on the Kings on Feb. 1.
The Portland Trail Blazers will head back home to square off against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 1.
