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Lakers News: Damian Lillard's Sharpshooting Trail Blazers Bury LeBron-Less LA, 127-115

Dame Dolla was making circus shots against a listless LA perimeter defense.

Alex Kirschenbaum

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How much longer is head coach Darvin Ham going to trot out this undersized Los Angeles Lakers backcourt of Dennis Schröder and D'Angelo Russell? 

It proved incredibly costly tonight, as the Portland Trail Blazers rode their lone All-Star Damian Lillard, to an incredible first half of basketball, one so insurmountable that the game was essentially over after the third quarter.

Things were relatively rosy to start. With LA All-Star power forward LeBron James missing his third game in a row due to an ankle injury, Anthony Davis especially looked good early, notching eight points and six rebounds in the opening quarter, and looking to be pretty much back in his bag when it came to post play:

Things were relatively even after a 10-0 LA run was answered by a 9-0 Portland run early on that kept things close midway through the frame. 

And then a 29-5 Trail Blazers tear signaled that one team understood the assignment tonight: drain triples. To that end, the Trail Blazers went 10-of-14 from long range in just the first period alone!

Lillard was off to a (ahem) blazing hot start for the opening frame:

One of the most curious elements of the opening half was Darvin Ham's bizarre decision to keep Anthony Davis sidelined even as Portland beat up LA all over the court for the closing minutes of the quarter. With 3:20 left in the period, Ham subbed out Davis in favor of Wenyen Gabriel (who will probably not be in the team's big man rotation when Mo Bamba becomes available and LeBron James returns), and the score at a manageable 19-16 Blazers lead. In an ominous start to the Gabriel minutes, the team was whistled for a delay of game violation before play could even resume! Without Davis, Portland went 15-3 to close out the quarter, albeit mostly from deep.

The Trail Blazers built on their edge in the second quarter, and finished the half up big, 65-46. Portland nailed a team-record 17 triples in the game's first half. Lillard himself went 8-of-11 from deep in those first two quarters.

In probably the most Damecore moment of the half, Lillard shrugged off his defender, Lakers reserve Austin Reaves (who along with Malik Beasley should be considered for the team's starting shooting guard gig immediately) for this step-back buzzer-beating three to rub a little salt in LA's open wound at the break:

Brutal. Lillard alone had 30 points. Four of his eight treys in the opening half were from 30 or more feet away.

The two teams' output was actually relatively even in the third quarter (Portland marginally outscored Los Angeles, 36-33), but the damage had really all been done at the end of that first quarter. Even Matisse Thybulle, a non-shooter, made four triples in the game!

With Portland leading 101-79 at the top of the fourth, the contest's final twelve minutes essentially became a scrimmage. LA let its developing players soak up garbage time minutes. Rookie shooting guard Max Christie had a few nice moments. This great two-way sequence especially stood out:

The Trail Blazers led by as much as 27 points, but a fake late comeback from the Lakers helped LA's scrubs outscore Portland's 36-26 in the game's last quarter, making the final score look a bit more respectable, 127-115.

The big difference was the three-point shooting, of course. The Trail Blazers went 23-of-47 from deep, while the Lakers shot just 12-of-37 from long range (that's a 33-point advantage generated from all those extra triples). Lillard finished with 40 points, six rebounds and five assists in just 33:34.

Schröder scored a whopping two points (1-of-7 shooting) and six assists in 29:40. Beasley, just waiting in the wings to replace him (in this scenario, D'Angelo Russell would slide down to run point) scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting (6-of-12 from deep, though five of those happened in the fourth with the game already out of order). AD's 19-point, 20-rebound double-double was basically an afterthought, though he did help the Lakers swing massive advantages in rebounds (61-46) and points scored in the paint (54-38).

A big issue all night was head coach Darvin Ham's rotational decision-making. Even with volume three-point marksman Malik Beasley now available, he opted to start the undersized Dennis Schroder at the point and nominal point guard D'Angelo Russell at shooting guard, while keeping Troy Brown Jr., a decent defender but reticent shooter, in his starting five. It's time to demote Schroder. Every game is imperative, and starting off from such a massive deficit from deep in the first half essentially doomed LA.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Basketball is Alex's favorite sport, he likes the way they dribble up and down the court.

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