LOS ANGELES • The Los Angeles Lakers completed their opening four-game homestead on Monday hoping to better assimilate their off-season acquisitions into their roles within the team.
The National Basketball Association (NBA) champions now have four successive road games, starting with the San Antonio Spurs today, after going 2-2 at the Staples Centre.
Damian Lillard scored 31 points and Gary Trent Jr had 28, leading the Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-107 victory over the Lakers, who were paced by 29 points from NBA Finals Most Valuable Player LeBron James.
Teammate Dennis Schroder, acquired from Oklahoma City Thunder last month, again had a strong showing with 24 points.
The German guard is averaging 16.8 points per game but fellow new faces Montrezl Harrell, Marc Gasol and Wesley Matthews all struggled against the Blazers, scoring nine, four and two points respectively.
Leading scorer Anthony Davis, who returned from a one-game absence due to a calf injury, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, but it was a tentative performance from the All-Star, who was feeling his way back.
After the Lakers saw the end of their streak of 59 straight victories when taking a lead into the fourth quarter (85-84), coach Frank Vogel will work on building team chemistry, with their bench contributing just 23 points overall.
“We just weren’t moving the ball that well,” he said. “I’ve got to make sure I get (Davis) the ball in opportunities where he can be aggressive.
“We were kind of stuck in mud a little bit. I don’t know (why). We just had trouble sustaining that intensity.”
This was the first meeting between the teams since Los Angeles claimed a 4-1 series win in the opening round of the play-offs in August and the Blazers feel they have improved since.
“Hopefully, we can build on it,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “We realise that we can be a good team. We just beat the defending champs, and they’re a great team.”
All-Star Lillard agreed, saying: “It makes us just a little bit more confident to be coming on the road and continuing to grow, continuing to build on our effort.
“We’re just getting more comfortable with each other, and we’re bringing our energy.”
On Trent Jr, who is entering his second year in the league and equalled his career high of seven three-pointers, the guard said: “I would assume any young player who was coming off the kind of season he had last season would expect to be in the rotation for more than six minutes.
“When that happened, I was like, ‘Let’s see how he responds’. I think it says a lot about him that he came out and had this type of performance. It speaks to how tough he is mentally and how locked in he is to this season.”
Portland played without Nassir Little and Carmelo Anthony, who did not make the trip because of the league’s health and safety protocols relating to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lakers reserve guard Alex Caruso also missed the contest for the same reason. All players are required to undergo daily coronavirus testing this season.
REUTERS