Trail Blazers: Takeaways from blowout loss to Lakers

The Trail Blazers blowout loss to the Lakers was overshadowed by fan favourite Rodney Hood going down with a torn Achilles in the first half.

The Portland Trail Blazers went down 136-113 to the Los Angeles Lakers on ESPN Friday night, but Blazer fans will only be thinking of Hood.

As Portland knows, Rodney Hood has been shooting the ball tremendously this year, and is now a key part of the offense. However, any hope of Hood making a difference this year is now gone, as he suffered a torn Achilles late in the 1st quarter.

Damian Lillard didn’t give it up, and posted an impressive 29, 7 and 8, but there was not much else on the positive end from this game.

The Lakers looked streets ahead of Portland in all departments, and what is left of the Blazer defense struggled to contain Lebron James and Anthony Davis for most of the evening.

Here are three takeaways from the night:

Rodney Hood

A truly horrible moment. The Blazers awful injury luck continued tonight, as Rodney Hood went down with a torn achilles.

That’s now Hood, Jusuf Nurkic (broken leg) and Zach Collins (dislocated shoulder) who have gone down with major injuries in the last 8 months. The Blazers have had historically bad luck with injuries, but this is all-time bad. That’s 3 starters who have gone down for practically a year.

The season was turning around, too. Portland had won 4 of their last 5, the one loss on the road to the Clippers, and the new offense was looking seriously dangerous. Kent Bazemore will step in for now, but he doesn’t offer the same threat from deep as Hood, nor the shot-making ability.

Jason Quick of The Athletic summed it up the best; this injury simply could not have happened to a better guy. All of Rip City Project is wishing a speedy recovery to Rodney Hood.

Defense bad again, but Lakers looked formidable

The Lakers look like the best team in the NBA, but the defense tonight was still inexcusable. Their first 19 points came at the rim, and it seemed to turn into a training drill, as Lebron through pass after pass over the Blazers defense.

I understand LeBron’s greatness and the quality of this Laker team, but Portland need some serious help on the defensive end, and fast. The Blazer hit shots tonight, and at times threatened to go on runs, but could not get stops. The trade window is approaching, and the Blazers need defensive wings badly.

Midway through the third, LA were shooting over 60 percent from the field and from three-point range. What’s scary, is that they barely came out of first gear. The Blazers have had their issues this year, and I’m not sure what trades they could make to get on par with this Lakers team (and the Clippers).

Rest of the year?

I want to remain positive, I really do. But now that’s Hood out for the year, Collins most likely out for the year, and Nurkic probably not returning until February.

Nurkic hitting the ground running and a blockbuster trade would swing things in Portland’s favor, but until something like that, they seem to be up against it when discussing a playoff run. How many bad breaks can this Portland team take?

Damian Lillard is not someone I tend to doubt, but he is just not getting anything right now. With both LA teams looking as good as they are, I wonder what the train of thought is in the locker-room right now. It’s still early in the season, but if these bad breaks continue, playoff success will drift further and further away.