After a scrappy victory against the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, highlighted by Austin Reaves’ huge night, the Lakers will quickly return home, where they will host the Portland Trail Blazers (1-2) on Monday.
This is one of five games that L.A. will be playing this week.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Portland Trail Blazers
When: 7:30 p.m. PT, Oct 27
Where: Crypto.com Arena
Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet
The Lakers continue to be affected by the injury bug to start the season as Luka Dončić and possibly Gabe Vincent have joined LeBron James, Maxi Kleber and Adou Thiero on the injury report. It’s definitely been a frustrating obstacle to start the season.
But as always, Los Angeles should channel the next man up approach and that’s what they did versus the Kings. Led by Reaves’ 51 points, the purple and gold showed that they can survive without two of their best players. Now, it’s time to do that again for the rest of the week.
The visiting Blazers, who will also be on the second night of a back-to-back, have been at the forefront of headlines as of late due to the arrest of their head coach, Chauncey Billups. Still, the team has actually been playing well to start the season and, despite now dropping two of their first three games, they’re still really competitive.
Take it from Anthony Edwards and Stephen Curry themselves, who just went up against the Blazers:
This one should be a fun battle between the guards, specifically Reaves and Marcus Smart against Shaedon Sharpe and Jrue Holiday. Portland also has Deni Avdija, Toumani Camara and Jerami Grant anchoring the forward position for them, so the Lakers’ defense has to be ready. Hopefully, Reaves and the crew have enough in the tank to compete against a Blazers team with an offense and defense both ranked in the top 10 early in the season.
While it would be nice to see another dominant game from AR, it would be more ideal not depend on him to score 50 or more points to win this one. More has to come from Rui Hachimura, Jake LaRavia and Smart, who all played well in Sacramento but could contribute even more given what they’re capable of doing. Another solid team effort across the board is the best possible way for the Lakers to win their third straight game in a row.
Despite not having two of their best players, the Lakers showed today that they have enough to remain competitive and that’s an encouraging sign of what a contending team is. Hopefully, this theme continues throughout the week as the Lakers look to keep stacking one win after another.
Notes and Updates
- Since both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back, injury reports won’t be released until Monday afternoon.
- Unfortunately, it’s safe to assume that Gabe Vincent won’t suit up as he was wearing a protective boot on his foot after Sunday’s game against the Kings.
- For the Blazers, Damian Lillard (Achilles surgery recovery), Scoot Henderson (left hamstring tear) and Robert Williams III (return to competition reconditioning) won’t be playing.
You can follow Nicole on Twitter at @nicoleganglani.
