No. 2: Portland’s secondary stars and role players are poised for Playoff success
Creating a case for the Portland Trail Blazers to win this series works against conventional wisdom and history. The Playoff “custom” traditionally goes as follows: in a Game 7, the team with the best player on the floor will win. Superstar dominance trumps any form of role player cohesion.
But take a look down the depth chart, and it’s feasible the Blazers could be primed to overcome that dogmatism. LeBron James is the best player in this series, and then regardless of whom you feel is No. 2 — Damian Lillard or Anthony Davis — the gap itself isn’t large. And then, what happens after that?
The Portland Trail Blazers have the next three best players in this series, in CJ McCollum, a proven big-time performer, and Jusuf Nurkić and Hall of Fame lock Carmelo Anthony follow closely behind.
For tertiary scoring, the Lakers are going to be relying mostly on good fortune. Their de facto No. 3 is Kyle Kuzma who — for as talented as he is — if you’re planning to look at his game-for-game production, be prepared to put on a helmet and a seat belt. It gets turbulent. He’s proven the ability to score 20 points on any given night, no easy feat.
The key for Portland will be to cover Los Angeles’ greatest strength: their fast break offense. In doing so, they can render the Lakers’ major role players a shell of what we expect them to be.
As a case in point, NBA.com’s John Schuhmann threw out a few statistics to ponder over: a career-high 24.8 percent of Danny Green’s points have come on the fast break. It’s also become quite a key for Kuzma too. It’s also the key to stopping LeBron James, the second-best player in the NBA in both fast break points, and No. 2 assist creator in fast break situations. Portland ranks among the elite in fast break points per possession (1.08 PPP).
And that goes without mentioning Portland’s rotation beyond its starters. Gary Trent Jr. has become the Orlando bubble’s best kept secret, and this might be the best possible series for Hassan Whiteside, seeing as though the Lakers play an old-school two-big lineup that will keep him off the perimeter.
Take each team’s dynamic duo from the occasion. The Lakers average 113.4 points as a whole, but each night, they expect players not named LeBron and Davis to contribute 62.0 points per game. The Blazers average 115.0 points per game. Portland’s players not named Lillard or McCollum average 62.8.
Each of the four stars in this series will raise their game to the umpteenth level. But the Blazers’ secondary players are just a bit more trustworthy in this situation.