The Los Angeles Lakers and visiting Portland Trailblazers battled at STAPLES Center on Tuesday night in a game that ultimately went to overtime before there was a winner. While the Blazers prevailed in the extra period, Los Angeles showed toughness in standing up to a talented Western Conference opponent that has playoff aspirations.
With the daunting task of slowing down Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in front of them, the young Lakers didn’t back down. Luol Deng was back in action to provide veteran leadership, which is much-needed given coach Luke Walton’s core of young, inexperienced players.
Our Lakers Nation Podcast analyzes the top performers of the game, including D’Angelo Russell‘s nightmare outing matching up against the talented Lillard.
We also take a look at Nick “Swaggy P” Young, whose improbable resurgence during the preseason has Los Angeles fans buzzing. What is Young doing that is so impressive, and how does he compare to the other Lakers wings? All that and more on this episode:
https://bumpers.fm/e/avv7276cjnkg00sa9ij0
Coming up on Thursday, the purple and gold will head to Las Vegas to take on the Sacramento Kings in a preseason rematch. In the first preseason game of the year, Los Angeles took home a big comeback win over Sacramento when the Kings went to their bench. However, the Kings starters largely dominated the Lakers, which means that Thursday’s game should be a fascinating contest.
The Sacramento bench will almost certainly be looking for a measure of redemption, but the young Lakers will be out to prove that they can hang with the Kings’ veteran-heavy starting lineup of Darren Collison, Arron Afflalo, Rudy Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kosta Koufos. It should be a fun game with plenty of storylines to discuss, and the Lakers Nation Podcast will be back on Friday to break it all down.