They are the top-scoring teams in the NBA and have dynamic backcourts to make it all work.
So, when the Lakers came to work with their superb guard duo of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves and the Portland Trail Blazers came to work with their exciting guard combo of Damian Lillard and Ja Morant, it figured to be a high-scoring affair Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
It lived up to that billing, with the game going back and forth in the decisive fourth quarter, finally being settled after Lillard hit a big-time three-pointer off a pass from Deni Avdija for a six-point lead with 42.8 seconds left that the Lakers couldn’t overcome in a 136-129 loss.
Doncic, coming off a 52-point game at Utah on Sunday, had 41 points, nine assists and five rebounds and Reaves had 26 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Morant and Avdija had 23 points for the Trail Blazers and Lillard had 21. Jrue Holliday scored 22.
The Lakers dropped their first game of the season, falling to 3-1 after getting outscored 34-26 in the fourth quarter.
The Lakers entered the game averaging a league-best 128 points per game and the Trail Blazers were right behind them at 126 points per game.
Doncic (34.3 points per game) and Reaves (26.7) are the top scoring backcourt in the league.
Lillard, who sat out last season with a torn left Achilles tendon injury, and Morant, who played for the Memphis Grizzlies last season before being traded to the Trail Blazers, formed essentially for a new backcourt for Portland.
“You’re talking about a playoff team that essentially added [Damian] Lillard and Ja Morant so it’ll be a great test for us tonight,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “I think you know the biggest thing for us is being able to get back, set our defense, and try to get our first bumps outside the paint. They’re a heavy drive team, [with a] number of guys that can do it at a high level and Avdija obviously led the league last year in drives and got to be great with that tonight.”
The two teams went at it in the first half, with the Lakers taking a 73-68 lead at intermission after a three-pointer at the buzzer by Sandro Mamukelashvili to end the second quarter.
He pumped his chest a few times, drawing cheers from the crowd.
Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr, who has been out with a right oblique strain, practiced with the Coachella Valley Lakers on Tuesday. Redick said Carr showed progress while at practice with their G-League team.
“We needed him to be able to get through a full practice,” Redick said. “So that’s probably a very important step. Obviously, he was able to do some level of conditioning because it was an upper body injury. But [we] want to make sure he’s able to take hits and able to be in shape.”
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