The Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers, both struggling, will meet Sunday night. Both teams have lost three games in a row and seven of their last nine, dropping down the Western Conference standings.
Los Angeles lost two road games by large margins earlier this week, falling 29 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves and 41 to the Miami Heat. They also lost 134-132 in overtime to the Atlanta Hawks on Friday. It was a better performance, but a late defensive mistake allowed Trae Young to hit a game-winning 3-pointer with 7.4 seconds left.
LeBron James scored 39 points, grabbed 11 assists, and pulled down 10 rebounds for his seventh triple-double of the season and 119th career triple-double. Still, he expressed frustration over the team’s struggles. “I don’t know as far as what will get us over the hump,” James said. “We just got to just not drown. Don’t drown and we’ll be all right.”
Anthony Davis also had a strong game with 38 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists. He’s confused as to why the Lakers are sitting in 10th place in the Western Conference with a 10-9 record. “There’s no cavalry,” Davis said.
“No one feels sorry for us. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Just got to continue to put our head down and grind and work. Try to get back in the win column on Sunday against Portland. … No game’s going to be easy for us, so we got to go take the win.”
Lakers guard Austin Reaves (back/pelvis) has missed the last four games, but the Lakers hope he will return for Sunday’s game.
Portland is also struggling, losing by large margins in their last two games. They fell 127-105 to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday and were blown out 141-99 by the Utah Jazz on Friday. The Jazz, with only four wins before the game, led by as much as 46 points, and Portland’s performance was widely criticized.
Portland head coach Chauncey Billups was disappointed by the loss. “It was ugly, obviously. All the way around, it was ugly,” Billups said. “It was unfortunate because I really did think we were ready for this game. We got out there and nothing worked from the beginning. It was a tough one.”
Utah dominated the rebounding battle 61-34 and outscored Portland 39-18 in fastbreak points. Portland also struggled due to the absence of Robert Williams III (concussion) and rookie Donovan Clingan (knee).
Deandre Ayton’s lackluster performance was also a problem. Ayton played briefly at the start of the second half before Billups pulled him after 17 minutes. “I didn’t like his spirit in the game,” Billups said.
Portland also faced injuries to forward Toumani Camara (right foot) and second-year point guard Scoot Henderson (quadriceps).
Jerami Grant and Dalano Banton scored 19 points each for the Blazers. The Lakers went 3-0 against the Blazers last season.