The Los Angeles Lakers snapped their three-game losing streak with a dominant 107-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday. The Lakers were without LeBron James and Austin Reaves for this clash in Los Angeles, but Anthony Davis ensured their absence wouldn’t hurt the team.
Davis had 30 points (10-21 FG), 11 rebounds, one assist, two steals, and five blocks against the Trail Blazers in 32 minutes. He had 14 points in the first quarter alone as he kept the Lakers in the game while his teammates struggled to get going.
They finally woke up in the second quarter, with Rui Hachimura scoring 14 of his 23 points (9-13 FG) on the night in the period. D’Angelo Russell also managed to give the Lakers a big boost off the bench, finishing with 28 points (9-17), five rebounds, 14 assists, and a steal and it was probably his best game of the season.
Lakers fans were hyped about getting a much-needed win here in James’ absence.
“The team defense was pretty good tonight. Squad allowing 117 suddenly holds an opponent under 100? That’s crazy,” one fan praised the Lakers for their defense.
“Good s D’Angelo Russell,” one fan saluted Russell for dominating against the Trail Blazers.
“See what happens when you don’t switch everything. AD looked like him old self on defense in that drop coverage,” one fan wants the Lakers to use the same defensive strategy they used here moving forward.
“Please don’t trade DLo anymore,” one fan doesn’t want the team to trade Russell anymore.
“Thanks, DLo and Rui,” one fan thanked Russell and Hachimura for getting the Lakers the win here.
The Lakers came into this contest with seven losses in their last nine games and a big issue during that wretched stretch was their defense. They played much better on that end of the floor on Sunday, as the Trail Blazers shot just 41.7% from the field and 25.0% from beyond the arc.
If the Lakers are to climb back up the standings in the West, they need to keep up this level on the defensive end. With this win, they improved to 13-11 on the season and are eighth in the Western Conference.
As for the Trail Blazers, they were led by Shaedon Sharpe here. Sharpe had 19 points (7-15 FG), seven rebounds, and three assists. Deandre Ayton had a big double-double too, as he finished with 14 points (7-14 FG), 19 rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block, but it wasn’t enough to prevent his team from dropping to 8-16 on the season.
The Trail Blazers have now lost four games in a row and will hope to end this streak when they take on the San Antonio Spurs at Moda Center on Friday at 10 PM ET.
The Lakers, meanwhile, will look to carry on the momentum from here when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on Friday at 8 PM ET. The Timberwolves blew them out 109-80 when the teams met on Dec. 2 and they’d have revenge on their minds.
