Lakers Beat the Trail Blazers 116-108, Take the Lead in the Series

LeBron James and Anthony Davis carried their Los Angeles Lakers to a win over the Trail Blazers, 116-108 and a lead in the series against the franchise from Portland. The fantastic duo dropped 67 points and was pumped up in the decisive moments of the clash.

A lot was at stake for both teams tonight, but the Lakers prevailed in the end, even though Portland had a lead throughout two and a half quarters. After Anthony Davis’ awakening in the second half, things became much easier for the LAL.

“I got the ball at some of my sweet spots, because coach did a very good job of drawing up the plays,” said AD after the game. “I told Lebron I had to take some pressure off of him.”

"I told Bron I had to take some of the pressure off of him." @AntDavis23 (29 PTS, 11 REB, 8 AST) talks with @LakersReporter about his effective second half for the #LakeShow vs. Portland. pic.twitter.com/T2NCrRJdCF

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) August 23, 2020

Davis scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half and completely demolished the Trail Blazers from all sorts of positions. It seems that the starting lineup of the rivals confused AD, because it featured both Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside in it. However, as time went by, he adjusted the situation on the court and began delivering.

In the meantime, LeBron James was holding the Lakers in the game. King James ended the night with 38 points, 12 boards, and 8 assists, moving away from the playmaking role and becoming more of a scorer.

“I just wanted to be aggressive and I was able to do that early,” LBJ said.

Lakers’ no.23 had 11 hits from the field in 18 attempts, and was sent to the line 17 times, making 12 of those trips successful. On the other hand, he again had a high number of turnovers, 8.

Portland had a lead in the first half, and kept it up until the middle of the third quarter. That is when the Lakers made a 14-3 run to get away to a safe distance, which they held until the end.

Davis added 11 boards and fantastic 8 assists, with three blocks to his stats. He spent a team-high 41 minutes on the court.

Apart from these two guys, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 13 and Alex Caruso with 10 points were the only ones with a double-digit number of buckets for the Lakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUByeQXH1aw

With the Trail Blazers, Damian Lillard scored 34, despite having problems with his index finger. Dame also had seven assists and five rebounds, missing just one of his 14 free throws.

“It wasn’t our night to make those shots,” Lillard said. “The effort was there. The aggressiveness was there. We just didn’t make the shots that we usually make.”

CJ McCollum scored 28 buckets, with 8 boards and four assists, shooting 12-for-25 from the field. He was of great help for Lillard, the same as Carmelo Anthony. Melo spent 42 minutes on the floor, scoring 20 points having six boars and four steals.

However, the Blazers had a massive disbalance of scoring, as their big guys, Nurkic and Whiteside, delivered just 18 points.

Also, these two couldn’t control the glass at all, and that is why Portland had just 38 rebounds, and Lakers 55. Also, the Blazers weren’t very happy with the referee criteria, as they had only 19 free throws, while on the other hand, Lakers shot 43 times from the line.

The LAL now leads in the series, 2-1, with momentum on their side. The Trail Blazers will have to find a way to stop the rivals’ surge and how to increase the productivity from under the rim. Game 4 is set for this Tuesday at 9 pm ET.