Portland Trail Blazers versus Los Angeles Lakers: Injury update and viewing details
The Trail Blazers are wounded but not dead yet. Coming off their second loss their second in a row against the Los Angeles Lakers, they’ll look to stop the bleeding tonight. Here’s what look for, the injury report, and how to watch.
The Portland Trail Blazers were not supposed to make the playoffs (based on the pre-hiatus season) but they did. They were not supposed to win a game against the Lakers either, but they did. Damian Lillard has willed the team past what they were “supposed” to do and now he looks to do it once more.
Though Lillard is playing with a dislocated finger, he still scored 34 points against the Lakers in game 3. He’s the obvious heart and soul of this team and he will fight until the buzzer to advance his team. To do that though, they will have to find a way to stop Anthony Davis.
Davis has averaged over 29.3 points per game this series, and it’s up to Terry Stotts and the team to figure out how to slow him down. Not an easy task for anyone but they may be close to figuring it out.
The Blazers have done well to mess with Davis’ outside rhythm but he’s absolutely killing them in the paint. Hassan Whiteside, in particular, must be tasked with keeping Anthony Davis out of the paint if the Blazers are to win.
The Lakers are riding high after back to back wins but as the entire NBA should know by now, don’t count out Damian Lillard and the Blazers.
The Series So Far:
Game 1: Trail Blazers 100 – Lakers 93 (POR leads 1-0)
Game 2: Trail Blazers 88 – Lakers 111 (Series tied 1-1)
Game 3: Trail Blazers 108 – Lakers 116 (LA leads 2-1)
Injury Report, per CBS Sports:
POR – Zach Collins, ankle (out for the season)
POR – Nassir Little, illness (expected to be out at least until Sep. 1)
LA – Rajon Rondo, back (game-time decision)
How to watch:
Date: Monday, Aug. 20th
Time: 6:00 pm PST
How to watch: TNT, NBC Sports Northwest, or fuboTV
How to listen: NBA League Pass, Rip City Radio 620 AM
Projected starting lineup, Portland Trail Blazers
- Damian Lillard (G), CJ McCollum (G), Carmelo Anthony (F), Wenyen Gabriel (F), Jusuf Nurkić (C)
Projected starting lineup, Los Angeles Lakers
- LeBron James (G/F), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (G/F), Danny Green (G/F), Anthony Davis (F), JaVale McGee (C)