Blazers Finish Off A 2021 With Lopsided Loss To Lakers
LOS ANGELES — The Trail Blazers started 2021 with a blowout victory on the road on New Year’s Day.Twelve months later, they ended 2021 with a blowout loss on the road on New Year’s Eve.
Portland finished out the calendar year with a 136-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in front of a sellout crowd of 18,997 at Crypto.com Arena.
“I thought tonight we started the game off just behind,” said Trail Blazers acting head coach Scott Brooks.“I don’t think we play with enough force, (Los Angeles) dictated that start and they were attacking on both ends of the floor and we were back on our heels…Not a good game for us, there’s no way around it.”
The Trail Blazers are now 13-22 overall and 2-13 on the road this season.Portland has lost four-straight and 11 of their last 13 while winning just twice in the month of December.
The loss ends a two-game winning streak versus the Lakers.
In their second-straight wire-to-wire loss, Portland trailed by double digits before four minutes had elapsed in the first quarter and trailed by 16 going into the second.Where it not for Ben McLemore, fresh out of health and safety protocols, putting up 16 points in the first quarter, the game would have been functionally over not long after it began.
“He was on fire early and then you knew, sooner or later, his legs were going to get a little tired,” said Brooks.“And then he got a nice little second wind late in the game.It’s good, we need him, we need bodies.”
The Lakers would go up by 20 early in the second quarter, though the Blazers managed to match L.A.’s scoring to take the same deficit they they faced in the first quarter into the intermission.
The Blazers cut the lead to 12 early in the third quarter, but that would be as close as they’d get.The Lakers would push the advantage to as many as 26 in the third, and with the game well out of reach, Brooks opted to play the end of the bench and all of the G-League call ups for the entirety of the fourth.
McLemore led the Trail Blazers with 28 points on 9-of-22 shooting from the field and 6-of-14 shooting from three while also grabbing four rebounds in nearly 30 minutes.
Damian Lillard finished with 18 points, seven assists and four rebounds in 32 minutes.
And his first and only three, the 6-3 guard out of Weber State moved into a tie with Paul Pierce for ninth in NBA history in made three with 2,143.
Larry Nance Jr.came a rebound short of a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds in 25 minutes.Norman Powell contributed 12 points, three rebonds and three assists in 31 minutes.
LeBron James led all scorers with 43 points on 26 shots while also grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds in 29 minutes.
“LeBron was vintage LeBron,” said Brooks.“We tried everything.We tried to go under, we tried to double, we tried to put bigger size on him, which, we don’t have a lot of size right now.”
Russell Westbrook secured a triple-double with 15 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists in 30 minutes.
The Blazers will now celebrate the New Year while on a flight back to Portland after which they’ll have the weekend off before hosting the Hawks Monday night at Moda Center.
Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m..
