Lillard, Nurkic slay Lakers 113-110
By Dayton Brown
The Trail Blazers got off to hot start, but cooled down halfway through. A last-second #LillardTime shot helped Portland come away with the 113-110 victory. This marks the Blazers’s 13th consecutive win against the Los Angeles Lakers.
It’s already been a wild season for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Close games have been the norm so far in Portland. But who would have thought that tonight’s game against the young Angeles Lakers would top them all?
It started out so well for the Blazers, and they sprinted to an 18-point first quarter lead. Entering the second quarter, it was a 16-point cushion for the Blazers, and the Lakers looked lost.
Things turned around drastically for the last 24 minutes.
The Blazers caught another second quarter flu (see my three takeaways), and it had a snowball effect. The Lakers outscored the Blazers 60-46 in the second and third quarters combined.
Hurting the Blazers was foul trouble galore for those two quarters.
Noah Vonleh amassed three fouls in the first quarter alone, and ended with five total. Jusuf Nurkić had to put his great night on hold for a bit in the second and third quarters because of four fouls of his own.
The fourth quarter was close, an the Blazers found themselves up by a single point late.
Nurk got fouled and went to the line, rattling the first in and swishing the second.
Then quasi-Blazers killer Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a turn-around three to event it up with 18 seconds left.
That’s when Damian Lillard sized up Brandon Ingram, stepped back, and buried a triple with 0.7 seconds left.
Game. Blazers.
Lillard finished with a game-high 32 points along with six rebounds and five assists.
Nurkić posted a season-high 28 points on 12-20 shooting with five boards, five dimes, and three steals. CJ McCollum completed the three-headed monster, dropping in 22 points and five assists of his own.
On the losing end, another almost-Blazers killer, Brook Lopez, got an easy 27-points. Lonzo Ball managed a whopping 0 points in 28 minutes. Rookie phenom Kyle Kuzma dropped in 22 points on 10-17 from the floor. Ingram and Caldwell-Pope combined for 28 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
This win puts the Blazers at 5-4, currently 8th in the Western Conference.
Three Takeaways
Second quarters aren’t kind to the Blazers.
Portland shot 71% in the first quarter, but just 41% in the second. That allowed Portland to get outscored 37-25, and the Lakers cut what was a 18-point deficit down to just four at halftime.
Unfortunately, that’s not the first time something like that has happened this season.
This trend started against Toronto, where the Blazers scored just six points in the second quarter. Eventually, the Blazers lost by 14, and the Raptors capitalized on their dominating quarter.
Tonight, the Lakers did as well. They slowly erased a nearly-20 point lead, and led by as many as six. Luckily, the Blazers were able to consistently drain threes, going 9-22 from behind the arc.
The team needs to be careful, though. Lucky wins like these won’t come often if Portland continues to struggle.
This was exactly the game Jusuf Nurkić needed
Many predicted Nurkić to round into an All-Star center this season. He was a prime candidate for most improved player. He came into last night’s game averaging just 13 points, and hadn’t quite found his fitting quite yet.
Powering a heated matchup against Lopez, Nurkić bullied his way to 28 points on 60% shooting. Both of those were season-highs. He didn’t stop there: he was also responsible for 5 rebounds and 5 assists, showing his versatility.
Defensively, Nurkić is still struggling. He also let some rebounds get away from him early, but fixed that up with aggressiveness. He stepped up and filled in his role tonight, which is more than enough with a player of his size and skill
The Lakers were brewing a perfect storm
Don’t be too worried about this close win. Lopez finds a way to do extremely well in Portland. He dropped over 30 points in a game last year in the Moda Center as a member of the Brooklyn Nets. I was there, and it was painful to watch.
Caldwell-Pope shot 50%, as did Kuzma (58%), Randle (66%), Clarkson (66%), and Larry Nance Jr (75%). Nance and Caldwell-Pope also provided tremendous defense and hustle for the Lakers to help build the lead.
As a team, they shot 8% better than Portland overall, but still couldn’t pull out the win. This team is young, and has the right veteran presence to help guide them. Last night was an example of what they can do when things work in harmony, and they will be a scary team in a few short years.