After a four-game road trip, the Los Angeles Lakers returned home on Sunday night and hosted the Portland Trail Blazers.
Both teams were shorthanded in this one with the most notable injury being LeBron James, who missed the game with a calf contusion. The Lakers were still able to take care of business though, winning 116-110 to get back to .500 at 5-5.
Rui Hachimura got the start in LeBron’s place and immediately got the Lakers on the scoreboard with a dunk after the opening tip. While the Lakers jumped out to an early lead, they then committed some silly turnovers, allowing the Trail Blazers to tie the game at 12.
The Lakers actually found themselves trailing 22-16 before their new sixth man Austin Reaves came in and provided a spark. He and Cam Reddish both connected from deep to tie the game once again.
Reddish had a nice start to the game with 10 first quarter points and then Christian Wood completed a three-point play give the Lakers a 31-28 lead going into the second.
Shaedon Sharpe started to heat up early in the second as the Trail Blazers went on a 14-3 run. Matisse Thybulle, who is not known for his shooting, also got hot with a couple corner triples.
D’Angelo Russell had some nice playmaking to end the first half, finding both Hachimura and Anthony Davis for easy buckets although Thybulle hit another 3 to give the Trail Blazers a 57-56 halftime lead.
Russell continued his strong play into the third quarter with a pair of early buckets to help L.A. regain the lead.
The Lakers began to pull away from there as Reaves scored five straight points to give them their first double-digit lead. After a relatively quiet first half, Davis also started to get going, dominating on both sides of the ball for the Lakers to give them a 91-80 lead at the end of the third.
Davis went to the bench to begin the fourth quarter though and the Trail Blazers immediately went on a 9-0 run, forcing Darvin Ham to take a quick timeout. Jerami Grant then made a wide open 3-pointer to make it a 12-0 run and a one-point game before Davis returned and restored order with seven straight points.
That was responded by another Trail Blazers run, however, so the game remained close going into the final minutes.
Hachimura had some big points for the Lakers down the stretch, scoring four straight. Taurean Prince then had a steal and layup in transition to give the Lakers a 108-103 lead. Grant was red-hot in the second half though and immediately responded with another triple.
As was the case all night, the Lakers went to work in the paint from there as Davis and Hachimura both scored to seal the victory.
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