Lakers suffer first loss of season at hands of | College News
They are the top-scoring groups in the NBA and have dynamic backcourts to make it all work.
So, when the Lakers got here to work with their excellent guard duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves and the Portland Trail Blazers got here to work with their thrilling guard combo of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant, it figured to be a high-scoring affair Tuesday evening at Crypto.com Arena.
It lived up to that billing, with the sport going back and forth in the decisive fourth quarter, finally being settled after Lillard hit a big-time three-pointer off a cross from Deni Avdija for a six-point lead with 42.8 seconds left that the Lakers couldn’t overcome in a 136-129 loss.
Doncic, coming off a 52-point recreation at Utah on Sunday, had 41 factors, 9 assists and 5 rebounds and Reaves had 26 factors, seven assists and 4 rebounds.
Morant and Avdija had 23 factors for the Trail Blazers and Lillard had 21. Jrue Holliday scored 22.
The Lakers dropped their first recreation of the season, falling to 3-1 after getting outscored 34-26 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers entered the sport averaging a league-best 128 factors per recreation and the Trail Blazers had been proper behind them at 126 factors per recreation.
Doncic (34.3 factors per recreation) and Reaves (26.7) are the top scoring backcourt in the league.
Lillard, who sat out last season with a torn left Achilles tendon injury, and Morant, who performed for the Memphis Grizzlies last season before being traded to the Trail Blazers, fashioned basically for a new backcourt for Portland.
“You’re talking about a playoff team that essentially added [Damian] Lillard and Ja Morant so it’ll be a great test for us tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I think you know the biggest thing for us is being able to get back, set our defense, and try to get our first bumps outside the paint. They’re a heavy drive team, [with a] number of guys that can do it at a high level and Avdija obviously led the league last year in drives and got to be great with that tonight.”
Lakers middle Walker Kessler will get hit in the pinnacle by Portland middle Donovan Clingan (23) in the first half.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The two groups went at it in the first half, with the Lakers taking a 73-68 lead at intermission after a three-pointer at the buzzer by Sandro Mamukelashvili to end the second quarter.
He pumped his chest a few occasions, drawing cheers from the gang.
Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr, who has been out with a proper indirect pressure, practiced with the Coachella Valley Lakers on Tuesday. Redick said Carr confirmed progress while at apply with their G-League staff.
“We needed him to be able to get through a full practice,” Redick said. “So that’s probably a very important step. Obviously, he was able to do some level of conditioning because it was an upper body injury. But [we] want to make sure he’s able to take hits and able to be in shape.”
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