The Los Angeles Lakers lost their last game of 2024 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they had an excellent opportunity to open 2025 with a win when they hosted the struggling Portland Trail Blazers.
The Blazers have been one of the worst teams in the league during the 2024-25 season and the Lakers entered the night as huge favorites to win despite Anthony Davis missing the game. Davis has dominated the matchup against Portland previously, so his absence at least left room for some doubt that Los Angeles could struggle.
Fortunately, the Lakers didn’t suffer a letdown as they took care of business and beat the Trail Blazers 114-106 to start the new year off on a positive note.
Max Christie has looked like a different player since being renamed a starter and he’s rewarded head coach JJ Redick’s trust with strong two-way play. Defensively, Christie remains one of the team’s best options on opposing guards but against Portland he found more success scoring the basketball.
Although Christie isn’t much of an on-ball player, he found ways to get open and made the Trail Blazers defense pay by hitting outside shots. However, Christie also did well to cut off the basketball and slip the basket for layups.
Christie set a new career-high in points with 28 on an efficient 9-of-16 shooting including 5-of-9 from the 3-point line. He also recorded three rebounds, two assists, two steals and one block.
With Davis out, LeBron James took it upon himself to lead the offense as he was much more aggressive than usual looking for his own shot. Against a smaller Trail Blazers frontcourt that was missing Jerami Grant, James used his size and physicality to either get to the rim or force help so he could set up a teammate.
However, James also had it going from distance as he hit a season-high seven threes on 10 attempts. Overall, James led all scorers with 38 points to go along with eight assists and three rebounds.
Since trading D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves has assumed more playmaking duties and he’s responded with even gaudier assist numbers. Against Portland, Reaves was able to routinely win at the point of attack and find teammates for open looks.
Reaves recorded a double-double of 15 points and 11 assists, showing that he’s more than capable of playing point guard full time.
What’s next for Lakers
The Lakers don’t get much time to celebrate their win as they draw the Atlanta Hawks on the second night of a back-to-back on Friday at Crypto.com Arena.
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