Tonight at 7:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Los Angeles Lakers. This will be the first of four regular season meetings and the Lakers will be without Kobe Bryant (rest). The Trail Blazers took one on the chops from the Atlanta Hawks over the weekend and need to press the restart button. The Lakers hosted the Indiana Pacers last night and won on a Bryant jumper with 12 seconds remaining. This game can be seen locally on KGW and heard on Rip City Radio 620 AM.
Saturday’s loss to the Hawks should shake the Trail Blazers to the core. They struggled to handle the interior strength the Hawks presented. The Hawks scored 64 points in the paint and Head Coach Terry Stotts knows that is a big problem. “I’ve been concerned about points in the paint all season. As long as we score, if we get them in the paint, I’m not as concerned. But defensively, that is a concern. The ball was getting to the rim too much,” Stotts said. He’s absolutely right and when you add the loss of Freeland for a few weeks, that defensive concern just keeps growing. Just look at their shot chart through the first three quarters on Saturday:
The Hawks took 35 shots inside the restricted area after 3 quarters. 35! pic.twitter.com/7wkYKot99w
— Blazer Banter (@blazerbanter) January 4, 2015
Already down Lopez, the shoulder injury to Freeland really cripples the Trail Blazers ability to defend at the rim. They still have Chris Kaman but my guess would be Stotts continues to use him to anchor the reserves. Robinson will likely see increased minutes and we will also see some Meyers Leonard. That scenario doesn’t look great if you are a Trail Blazers fan.
The Lakers, a long time hated rival, have had difficult season thus far. When you subtract one of the all-time greatest players from your lineup, winning becomes an even more difficult task. Bryant, 36, will not play tonight as he takes a scheduled day of rest. Without Bryant, the Lakers lose their leading scorer and only consistency. They will also be without another starter, Johnson. It will be the second game of a back-to-back which doesn’t help them at all.
With all of this talk about the reeling Lakers and their problems, the task for the Trail Blazers will be to not play down to the competition. They have a tendency to let off the gas against sub-par opponents. After getting outworked on Saturday, my hope would be for the Trail Blazers to come out focused and ready to win. The starting five should all have a huge chance to get back on track.
Aldridge played very well on Saturday, posting 30 points and 12 rebounds. His matchup with Paul Millsap proved to be the spotlight of the game. Millsap hung 27 points and six rebounds on Aldridge. Tonight, Aldridge has a favorable matchup against Davis and the Trail Blazers will need him to be productive.
Batum had another solid game and showed the type of contribution we know he can make. He had 16 points on 7-13 from the field. Rebounds and assists weren’t impressive, only having four and three respectively. He has found his offense again and recently has been a very important piece to the puzzle. He has recorded double-digit points in his last four games and has shot 53.0 percent or better in three of those four games. The question continues to be: can he be consistent with his play?
Look for the Trail Blazers to take advantage of a depleted Lakers team and get back in the win column before Thursday’s nationally broadcast game against the Miami Heat.