Portland Trail Blazers 136, Los Angeles Lakers 129. That is the short version of Tuesday night in Los Angeles, where the visitors moved to 3-0 and the Lakers lost for the first time in four games. The Blazers vs Lakers result was settled in the final three minutes, and it was settled from behind the three-point line.
Blazers vs Lakers: the final three minutes
Portland led 128-124 after Deni Avdija hit a three-pointer with 2:59 remaining. Twenty-three seconds later, Ziaire Williams answered from deep for Los Angeles and the margin was one. From there the game became a sequence of single possessions, each asking the same question: could the Lakers get a stop and a clean look at the other end?
Ja Morant's floater made it 130-127 with 2:01 left, and Morant scored again with 1:24 to play. Luka Doncic answered with a short shot at the 1:06 mark to cut the deficit to three, but Damian Lillard buried a three with 43.1 seconds remaining for a 135-129 Portland lead.
Doncic and Austin Reaves both missed from three on the Lakers' next possession. Jrue Holiday split two free throws with 18.3 seconds left to push the lead to seven and close it out.
Deni Avdija and Portland's balanced scoring
Avdija finished with 23 points and nine assists, and Morant also scored 23. Holiday added 22 off the bench and Lillard 21, giving Portland four players at 21 or more. Robert Williams III had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Toumani Camara added 12.
Avdija, Lillard and Camara each made four three-pointers. Portland finished 18 of 36 from behind the arc and shot 59 percent overall, a shot profile that kept the floor wide the way a well-planned atrium keeps a building from feeling closed in — the corners stayed occupied, and the middle stayed open for Morant's floaters.
Donovan Clingan added nine points and 10 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.
Luka Doncic's 41 points and the Lakers' shooting
Doncic recorded 41 points and nine assists two days after scoring 52 against the Utah Jazz. Reaves added 26 points and seven assists. Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 17, Walker Kessler 13 and Ziaire Williams 11.
Los Angeles shot 56.2 percent from the field and 17 of 43 (39.5 percent) from three. Doncic was 6 of 15 from long range and Reaves 4 of 8. The Lakers made enough shots to win most nights; on this one they were outscored 18-17 from three by a Portland team that needed only 36 attempts to get there.
The third quarter and the run Portland carried forward
Mamukelashvili made two three-pointers during a 7-0 run that closed the first half, and Reaves and Doncic opened the second with threes to give the Lakers a 79-68 advantage. Doncic had 24 first-half points as Los Angeles led 73-68 at the break; Morant had 15 before halftime.
Los Angeles later led 97-88 after a Reaves three and a Doncic basket. Portland then scored 14 of the period's final 20 points to trail 103-102 entering the fourth — the kind of closing stretch that decides more games than the highlight reel ever shows.
Lillard's three gave Portland a 108-105 lead with 9:10 remaining, and a Camara three made it 114-106 with 8:31 to play. The Lakers answered with a 10-2 spurt, and Reaves' jumper tied the game at 116 with 5:33 left.
What Portland's 3-0 start rests on
Three games is not a season. What Tuesday showed was narrower and more useful: Portland has four players comfortable creating a shot late, and a bench scorer in Holiday who can stay on the floor when the starters sit down.
The Lakers' first loss in four games is less revealing. Doncic has now scored 52 and 41 in consecutive outings, and the supporting numbers — Reaves at 26, three others between 11 and 17 — describe an offense that is functioning. The difference was the last three minutes, when Los Angeles got two good looks from three and made neither.
The original report was published by gmanetwork.com.
