FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Trail Blazers- Game 10 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Lakers vs Trail Blazers – Game 10 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Los Angeles Lakers (5-5) | Portland Trail Blazers (3-6)

 

Without LeBron James, the Los Angeles Lakers held on to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers, 116-110, behind a strong performance from Anthony Davis.

The Lakers vs Trail Blazers played at the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 116-110, without LeBron James to improve to 5-5 on the season. They are now 5-2 in games that have gone into crunch time and 5-0 at home.

James missed his first game of the year with a left calf contusion (an injury he suffered last time out in their 122-119 victory over the Phoenix Suns), however, Anthony Davis stepped up to the plate with 30 points (10-of-20 FGs, 10-of-12 FTs), 13 rebounds, six assists and three blocks. 

“I saw the ‘fro back tonight so I knew this was gonna be a big day for him,” teammate Austin Reaves said of Davis. “Any time you have Anthony Davis, you have a chance.”

Reaves himself put up a nice stat line for the Lakers, totaling 18 points (6-of-12 FGs, 2-of-4 3s, 4-of-4 FTs), four rebounds, and four assists off the bench.

“I mean, basketball is basketball for me,” Reaves said of adjusting to the bench role. “Start, come off the bench, go play pickup back home. I try to play the same way regardless of the situation. That’s really the main thing, just being myself and trusting what I do but at the same time just playing the game the right way.”

The Trail Blazers got outworked by the Lakers

Reaves’ replacement in the starting lineup, Cam Reddish, had another solid outing, finishing with 18 points (7-of-10 FGs, 1-of-3 3s, 3-of-3 FTs), seven rebounds, and three steals.

The start of the Lakers vs Trail Blazers first half. 

“Cam, that’s the thing about him. He’s so multifaceted defensively,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said of Reddish. “In terms of, again, his length, the quickness of his hands, his ability to navigate screens, not get hit. He was huge tonight.”

Reddish came out firing in this one, as he scored 16 of his 18 points in the first half.

“We’ve got to just come out from the jump and play to the best of our ability, with energy,” Reddish said. “Obviously, we got the win, so that’s all good, but I think we can do a better job of just playing hard throughout the whole 48. But it was a good win.”

For the Trail Blazers, Jerami Grant led the way with 23 points (8-of-17 FGs, 3-of-6 3s, 4-of-5 FTs) and five rebounds, Shaedon Sharpe had 19 points (7-of-15 FGs, 3-of-6 3s) and four assists, and Skylar Mays put up 15 points (7-of-13 FGs, 0-of-4 3s), four rebounds, and 12 assists.

“Most games in the NBA, it comes down to executing down the stretch, because it’s always going to be a two- or three-possession game,” said Mays. “They had us there, but we showed a lot of fight. We’ve just got to learn how to finish games. It’s early. We’ve got a lot of time to make up for it.”

To begin the game, Los Angeles hit five of their first seven shots to take a 12-7 early lead against the Trail Blazers, before allowing a 5-0 run by Portland that tied the game at 12.

The Trail Blazers caught momentum and began to take control of the game until Reaves entered and sparked a 6-0 run, hitting a three, nabbing a defensive rebound, and feeding Reddish for a trailing transition three, tying the game at 22-22.

The end of the Lakers vs Trail Blazers first half. 

Following Reaves’ mini-explosion, the Lakers led after the first quarter for the first time this season, 31-28. Los Angeles moved the ball well in the first period with eight assists on 12 FGs.

The start of the Lakers vs Trail Blazers second half. 

The Lakers went into halftime trailing 57-56 despite closing the second quarter out better than the first. Los Angeles shot 48.9 percent from the field, but could barely hit a 3 (2-for-12), and missed five free throws (10-of-15). Meanwhile for Portland, Matisse Thybulle, who hit just nine 3s before this game (34 percent), made four in the first half alone.

An and-1 on one end and a block on the other from Davis sparked a quick burst that had the Lakers up 71-68 early in the third period. Davis was up to 14 points, seven boards, five assists, and three blocks, compared to the Trail Blazers’ DeAndre Ayton, who had just 10 points, two boards, zero assists, and one block.

Including Davis’ play, Los Angeles caught fire, going on an extended run, 15-2, to open a double-digit lead at 81-70 with 3:41 to play in the third quarter.

The Lakers were sharper in the third, outscoring the Trail Blazers 35-23, and leading 91-80.

Los Angeles closed the third quarter on a 25-12 run, making it the most points (91) they’ve scored through three quarters this season. Making up more than half of that was Davis with 21 points, Reaves with 16 points, and D’Angelo Russell with 11 points.

The Blazers, however, didn’t admit defeat and trimmed the Laker lead down to four in just a couple of minutes. Davis restored order after the Lakers’ second unit allowed a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter, which had Ham summoning Davis’ number.

Taurean Prince hadn’t been able to get an open 3 to fall, but he made a key play at the 2:34 mark of the fourth, with a steal, pursuit of a loose ball that Portland didn’t track, and eventual transition layup that put Los Angeles up 108-103. All the Lakers had to do from that point was outscore the Trail Blazers 8-7 to close it out.

An injury update for James, Ham said that they don’t want to run him into the ground this early in the season so they are being proactive with his shin/calf issue. He is considered day-to-day moving forward.

The final score of the Lakers vs Trail Blazers was 116-110, Lakers.

The Lakers will now take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday, November 14th, at 7:30 pm PST.

 

– Jake Ideguchi-Furukawa – Franchise Sports Media

Follow Jake on Twitter @jguchi_

Follow Jake on Instagram @jguchi_

Follow The Franchise on social media

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook

YouTube