Severely shorthanded, the Lakers fought hard in the first half before running out of steam in the second half against the Blazers on Monday, falling 122-108.
Both Gabe Vincent and Marcus Smart were additions
to the injury report on Monday afternoon, leaving the Lakers with just seven players on standard contracts available.
Austin Reaves continued his red hot start to the season with 41 points on 13-22 shooting with four rebounds, five assists and three steals. Deandre Ayton ended with 16 points and eight rebounds. Rui Hachimura pitched in with 16 points and six rebounds.
Jarred Vanderbilt had 14 points with eight rebounds and three steals. Dalton Knecht found a bit of a groove in the second half with 16 points off the bench.
The first period opened with a layup from Reaves, who notched six early points for the Lakers. Ayton also continued his strong shooting in the paint, knocking down three jump shots. Portland’s Jerami Grant subbed in and scored five quick points.
LA was shooting 47% from the field while the Trail Blazers were shooting 38%. Los Angeles was doing a good job at taking care of the ball, committing only three turnovers.
Reaves and Ayton combined for 19 points in the early going.
The Lakers had the lead for most of the quarter until Portland closed strong to take a four-point advantage after Reaves went to the bench.
Reaves started the second quarter with one of his patented fadeaway shots. Portland had gone up by five until Vanderbilt’s scoring helped the Lakers go up by one. The connection between Reaves and Ayton was on full display as Reaves was piling on the assists with Ayton converting on midrange jumpers.
At the 6:43 mark, LA was up by one.
Zero defense and turnovers led to a 9-0 scoring run by the Blazers. Los Angeles struggled during the non-Reaves minutes, which forced him to be subbed back in.
The Lakers were an abysmal 0-11 from behind the arc until Hachimura drained one at the 1:06 mark. Despite the poor shooting, the purple and gold were only down by six at halftime.
Portland extended its lead to 12 immediately at the start of the second half. LA couldn’t generate offense and committed costly turnovers. A 3-pointer from Reaves put a brief stop to the bleeding.
Deni Avdija was a perfect 5-5 from behind the arc to keep the Blazers comfortably ahead.
Dalton Knecht finally saw the ball go through the hoop on a midrange jumper. That helped him to a small surge offensively, scoring the only points off the bench for Los Angeles with six.
The Lakers had gotten the deficit down to single digits until they once again made costly mistakes that extended Portland’s lead back to double digits. At the end of the third, LA was down by 12.
The final frame got off to a rough start for LA as they fell behind by as many as 18 points. Jrue Holiday was hot from behind the arc, draining two 3-pointers back-to-back
Knecht was up to double digits for the team with 13 points, but the rest of the bench couldn’t produce enough offense.
Despite the small surges and attempts at a comeback, Los Angeles’s lack of defense and brutal turnovers failed them.
Key Takeaways:
LA definitely played like a heavily-depleted team on night two of a back-to-back.
The bench needs to find a way to produce more offense. With so many players out, take advantage of your moment.
Knecht is someone the Lakers desperately need to turn back into a consistent sharp shooter. There were positives for him in this game. Hopefully, it helps him for the foreseeable future.
The Lakers’ next matchup is Wednesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at 6:30 PM PT.
You can follow Karin on Twitter at @KarinAbcarians.
