The Lakers first loss of the season came at home on Tuesday night. The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 136-129 at Crypto.com Arena, winning a fourth quarter in which they made seven of their 10 three-point attempts and went to the free-throw line again and again. Luka Doncic scored 41 points and Austin Reaves added 26, but the Lakers (3-1) could not get enough stops against a Portland team that is now 3-0.
How the fourth quarter got away
The Lakers led 73-68 at halftime after a buzzer-beating three from Sandro Mamukelashvili, and they still led 103-102 after three quarters. The fourth quarter was a back-and-forth stretch with Doncic on the bench at the start of it. Portland built its largest lead, eight points, at 114-106 on a Deni Avdija three with 7:56 left, and Doncic checked back in shortly after that.
The Lakers answered. Mamukelashvili scored twice, Walker Kessler finished a dunk, Reaves hit two short jumpers, and Ziaire Williams made a three with 4:43 left that gave the Lakers a 120-118 lead. That was their last lead. Jrue Holiday answered with a three, and from a 121-121 tie with 3:49 left, Portland closed the game on a 15-8 run:
- Damian Lillard made a three at 3:38, then a technical free throw after Williams was called for flopping, for a 125-121 lead.
- Doncic and Avdija traded threes, and Williams hit another to make it 128-127.
- Ja Morant hit a floater at 2:01 for a 130-127 lead.
- Kessler missed both free throws at 1:44 with the Lakers down three, and Morant followed with a turnaround jumper for 132-127.
- Lillard’s step-back three with 43.1 seconds left made it 135-129, and Portland did not need much more.
Lillard had 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter, going 3 for 4 from three. “[Lillard], of course, we know can shoot the crap out of the ball,” Lakers head coach JJ Redick said.
Defense and free throws
The Lakers’ offense was not the problem. They shot 56 percent from the field and 17 for 43 from three, and they scored 22 fast-break points to Portland’s 10. The problem was the other end. Portland shot 59 percent overall, 18 for 36 from three and went 26 for 41 at the line, according to the ESPN box score. The Lakers were called for 29 fouls to Portland’s 23.
“I mean, giving up 41 free throws, you got to defend without fouling,” Reaves said. “We did enough offensively to win the game. Defensively, we weren’t good.”
Redick made the same point in the clip above. “If we score 129 points at home, we should be able to get enough stops to win,” he said. He was also specific about where it broke down: “We just got broken down a lot. I thought the game plan, personnel discipline, wasn’t where it needs to be. I think, sometimes early in the season, these are good learning lessons we can all apply as coaches and players.” He gave Portland some credit too. “It was also an incredible shot-making game,” Redick said. “Let’s also factor that in.”
Portland’s balance
Four Portland players scored at least 21 points, and a fifth made all four of his threes:
- Morant: 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting.
- Avdija: 23 points, 9 assists, 4 of 7 from three.
- Holiday: 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting off the bench.
- Lillard: 21 points, 4 of 8 from three, 7 of 11 at the line.
- Toumani Camara: 12 points, 4 of 5 from three.
Robert Williams III added 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, and Donovan Clingan had 9 points and 10 rebounds. The Associated Press noted this is the franchise’s second 3-0 start in the last 15 years, under new coach Micah Nori.
The rebounding worry did not decide it
Our preview focused on the glass, and it is fair to say that part did not play out the way we expected. Portland outrebounded the Lakers 38-31, but it had only seven offensive rebounds, one more than the Lakers. The Lakers’ issue was not second chances. It was first-shot defense, fouling and late-game shot-making from Portland’s guards.
Lakers box score
- Doncic: 41 points on 12-of-22 shooting, 6 of 15 from three, 11 of 13 free throws, 9 assists and 5 rebounds in 37 minutes.
- Reaves: 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 7 assists in 39 minutes, with five fouls.
- Mamukelashvili: 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 4 from three, and a plus-6 in 24 minutes. He had 13 of those points in the first half.
- Kessler: 13 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks, with 4 turnovers and 1-of-4 free throws.
- Williams: 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
- Collin Sexton: 9 points on 4-of-11 shooting in 14 minutes.
- Matisse Thybulle (minus-12), Jake LaRavia (minus-10) and Quentin Grimes (minus-10) had the roughest plus-minus nights.
Kessler took the blame afterward. In Infanity TV’s postgame clips, he says “It’s on me… I take responsibility” and “I didn’t perform tonight.”
A night of technicals
The officials called seven technical fouls, and none were for unsportsmanlike conduct. There were four defensive three-second technicals (two each on Kessler and Clingan) and three flopping technicals, on Camara, Morant and Williams. The Williams call mattered most, because Lillard’s free throw on it came right after his go-ahead three. Williams, who has been fined by the NBA for flopping before, disagreed. “Yeah, like I said, I don’t think I’m flopping,” he said. “If I was flopping, I’d be on the floor. But it is what it is. Nothing I can do about it now.”
Cameron Carr update and what’s next
Rookie Cameron Carr, still out with a right oblique strain, practiced with the Coachella Valley Lakers of the G League on Tuesday. “We needed him to be able to get through a full practice,” Redick said. “So that’s probably a very important step.” Redick added that the team wants to make sure Carr is “able to take hits and able to be in shape.”
There is no time to dwell on it. The Lakers play the second game of a back-to-back tonight against the Clippers at Intuit Dome, at 7:30 p.m. PT. Portland hosts Memphis on Thursday.
Notes and conflicts
ESPN’s play-by-play running score credits Portland with two extra points early in the fourth quarter and ends at 138-129, while the official box score and line score show 136-129. We used the corrected score for every fourth-quarter figure above, which matches the Associated Press description of a five-point lead after Morant’s back-to-back jumpers and the Los Angeles Times’ six-point lead after Lillard’s late three. The Times places Williams’ flopping technical at 4:36 left; the play-by-play logs it at 3:36, right after Lillard’s three. We used the play-by-play time. Kessler’s quotes come from video clip titles and were not checked against a full transcript.
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