No Lebron James No problem for Lakers
Lakers returned home after 4 game road trip in a match up against Portland trail blazers. Los Angles Lakers Superstar Lebron James was inactive with calf injury. Lakers still manged to get the win in their home court to improve to 5-5 this season.
In 1st Quarter the Blazers shot 45.5% from the field and continued to struggle with 3 point shooting ahead. Portland made just 1 of 11 threes during first quarter. On the other hand, the Lakers went 2 of 5 but didn’t take many 3 point attempts because they outscored the Blazers 18-8 in the paint. Lakers finished with 31 points compared to Blazers 28 points
In 2nd Quarter the Lakers lead in points in the paint (36-20) once again. The Blazers were leading most of the time until Austin Reaves scored inside late and then Cam Reddish scored off a turnovers to give the Lakers a 56-54 lead. But a Thybulle gave the Blazers the lead back with a three and they kept it entering halftime. Both teams shot 48.9% from the field. Blazers scored 29 and Lakers finished with 25 points at the end of quarter.
In 3rd Quarter the Lakers lead the quarter 35-23 and shot 64.7% from the field. Anthony Davis had 10 points in the quarter. The score was level at 68-68 before the Lakers went on a 9-2 run to go up 77-70 to make lead substantial. Lakers were at 91 and Blazers scored 80 at the end of 3rd quarter.
In 4th Quarter the Blazers scratched their way back to within 93-92 but Lakers got another run to go up 102-94. Blazers tried to come back and Grant’s three made the score 102-101. But Anthony Davis scored clutch bucket in last 2 minutes https://x.com/NBA/status/1723934217837363380?s=20 to maintain the Lakers lead to end of the game.
The star of the night was Anthony Davis who led The Lakers with with 30 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 Blocks.
Austin Reaves talked to media after game and praised Anthony Davis performance.
“Anytime he gets on the floor – you never want to have LeBron or anybody out, but anytime you’ve got Anthony Davis on the floor, you’ve got a chance. He changes the game.”
Lakers played according to their strengths outscored the Blazers by 68 to 48 points in the paint. Lakers Defense and Hustle plays in game helped them edge past the Blazers. Winning without Lebron James is a good sign for Lakers because 38 year old star need some load off his shoulders during season to maintain his fitness at this point of career. Lakers improved their record to 5-5 to keep themselves in play in bracket.
Lakers start of the season is not as dominant as it was expected by their fans but Lebron and Anthony Davis duo is one of the lethal pairs in NBA right now when they are hot they can beat any team in NBA. Lebron is showing no rust in his body. AD just needs to be consistent for them to keep winning and produce a solid Championship run.
Right now Lakers just need to shoot on consistent basis to ease the load off the King James shoulders so that he is not fatigued and is fresh in playoffs.
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