The Blazers Won't Back Down

There’s no prize for winning one game, but make no mistake: The Lakers are in for a war against Damian Lillard and Portland.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Eight minutes to play, Lakers up six and this—this—was where the Trail Blazers would crumble. A month-plus in the bubble, two weeks of grueling seeding games, a win-or-go home to end the resumed season and a play-in war with Memphis to earn the final playoff spot had taken a toll. Jusuf Nurkic stood doubled over in the paint. Damian Lillard breathed deeply from beyond the arc. The Lakers were rolling, LeBron James authoring a historic night. Timeout, Portland and this was where it would end.

Another team, another situation, maybe. Not Portland, and certainly not Lillard, the Bubble MVP, the league’s most dangerous scorer, the player who defiantly told the NBA he wasn’t participating in a restart without a chance to make the playoffs and when granted that chance proceeded to will his team into it.

Out of the huddle, Lillard hit a 26-footer. Then C.J. McCollum connected from 28. Then Lillard, again, this time from 30. Three minutes after the Lakers took what looked like a commanding lead, the Blazers took it back, clawing their way to a 100-93 win.

There is no homecourt advantage in these playoffs, save for a de-fense drumbeat echoing through an empty arena and rows of pixelated virtual fans. There is no advantage, period, at least not for the Lakers. A season’s worth of success has led to this, a showdown with Portland, a Western Conference finalist a year ago, the best eighth-seed in NBA history.

Hyperbole? Maybe, but just look at what these Blazers can do. The Lakers play a trio of near seven-footers and they have run smack into one of the few teams that can throw equal sized bodies back. Nurkic lost his grandmother on Saturday, just hours before Portland played Memphis. One of the three most important people in his life, per TNT. He watched her funeral via video stream this week. On Tuesday, he played with her name stitched onto his sneakers. He put up a double-double in the first quarter, 16-points and 15-rebounds for the game.

Hassan Whiteside has been the guy who couldn’t play in the NBA, then could, the bargain in Miami and then the overpriced contract in Portland. Against the Lakers supersized frontcourt, Terry Stotts paired Nurkic and Whiteside together. Whiteside responded by swatting away five shots and altering several more.

Said Lillard, “Without him, we don’t win this game.”

There’s no prize for winning one game, but make no mistake: The Lakers are in for a war. Lost in a disappointing defeat will be a superlative, record setting performance by James, who became the first player in playoff history to rack up a 20-point, 15-rebound, 15-assist line. He would have had more assists, Frank Vogel noted after the game, if L.A. had made a few more threes.

Perimeter shooting haunted the Lakers in the seeding games. A few days off didn’t make them go away. Danny Green (2-8 from three) continued to struggle. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (0-5), too. Anthony Davis was brilliant attacking the basket, getting to the free throw line 17 times. But he was erratic from everywhere else, missing all five of his three-point attempts.

“We had some great looks,” James said. “Just didn’t knock them down.”

The Lakers have James, have Davis but someone else needs to step up. Kyle Kuzma played well in the seeding games, but 5-14 shooting won’t get it done. Alex Caruso played 29 minutes off the bench, with only one field goal to show for it. Avery Bradley isn’t walking through that door, but the Lakers could sure use him.

The Blazers have Lillard, but its supporting cast has come to life. McCollum has shaken off a back injury, and in Game 1 delivered 21 points. Carmelo Anthony didn’t have the best shooting night, but there as ‘Melo, with 2 ½ minutes to play, hitting a three to put Portland up six. Gary Trent Jr. bounced a corner three off the side of the backboard a couple of times but it was his three with 1:15 to play that put the game out of reach.

“I think our confidence has grown each game,” Lillard said. “It hasn’t always been a crazy scoring run. We have had to come up with stops. We have had to make the extra pass. Different guys have had to make big shots. It’s made us more comfortable with each other. We continue to trust each other.”

James trusts his teammates, but if the Lakers shooting woes continue, that may need to change. Davis is reliable, of course, but as James surveys the Lakers locker room, who else can he be sure is? For years, James has been able to channel his inner Cavalier, to revert back to his early Cleveland days and take over games, to become more Michael than Magic. It’s a turn he may need to make again.

The Blazers aren’t going anywhere, which was clear just watching them walk off the floor. There was no celebrating, no chest beating. Just a couple of hands slaps and a reminder—this is only beginning. “It’s first to four,” said McCollum. “We have a lot of work to do.” Said Lillard, “It’s only going to get harder from here.”

A 1-8 matchup is often a warmup for the top seed, a sparring session before the real thing. Not here, not against Portland. The Blazers didn’t come to make the playoffs. They came to win the whole thing. Portland isn’t a team wondering if it can contend. It’s one that believes, unequivocally, that it belongs.