At first, the Lakers were rolling by shuffling the scoring baton between one another. Kobe Bryant had 10 points before the midpoint of the first quarter, and Jordan Clarkson piled up 12 in the second.
But that baton was dropped several times, as the Lakers shot just 36.4 percent on the night. Meanwhile, Portland’s Damian Lillard sprinted the entire way, putting up 30 points in the Trail Blazers’ 107-93 victory.
When he wasn’t punishing the Lakers with his scoring (12-of-25), Lillard was keeping the engine running for his teammates by handing out a career-high 13 assists.
“We tried to blitz, and they made the right reads and our rotations weren’t up to snuff,” Bryant said. “They just killed us all night.”
While four of the Lakers’ core members — Bryant, Clarkson, Julius Randle and D’Angelo Russell — gave Portland issues at various times, each also fell into periods of ineffective play.
Bryant scored 18 points but needed 22 shots to do so. Clarkson went 8-of-13 from the field, yet scored only seven points outside of the second quarter. Randle notched his fourth double-double (13 points, 13 rebounds), though he shot 5-of-15. And Russell filled the stat sheet (13 points, career-high nine rebounds, six assists) in spite of having a game-worst -17 plus/minus.
Bryant described the team’s ball movement as “pretty far” from where it needs to be.
“We have to do a better job of trusting each other, moving the ball,” head coach Byron Scott said. “(We) just get stuck, and every shot we take is a challenged shot under duress. And until our guys start to really trust each other, it’s going to be like that.”
It seemed that L.A.’s spurts of solid play might outweigh its sluggish lulls, as Brandon Bass scored five straight points to cut Portland’s lead to 93-90 with four minutes left.
But after Bass’ highlight dunk, the Lakers shot just 1-of-9 the rest of the way.
Russell Stays In Midway through the third quarter, Russell went to the locker room with a mild sprain of his left ankle. However, he returned for the final period, finishing a board away from a double-double, while shooting 4-of-10 from the field.
Afterward, the 19-year-old highlighted that he is “trying to earn the respect from playing with older guys and (having) them respect my play calls.”
Despite his third-quarter hiatus, Russell still managed to play a career-high 36 minutes.
“I think it’s important for his growth,” Bryant said. “That’s why we drafted him: to be a point guard. That’s why he’s here. It’s a point to let him do what he does best.”
A photo posted by Lakers Scene (@lakersscene) on Nov 22, 2015 at 8:35pm PST
Notes Randle grabbed a career-high six offensive rebounds. … Roy Hibbert had four blocks, all of which came in the first half. … L.A. was held to two fast-break points. … Ed Davis returned to play the Lakers for the first time since his lone season with the team last year. … C.J. McCollum (19 points, 8-of-13) and Mason Plumlee (17 points, 11 rebounds) complemented Lillard’s night. … A sellout crowd of 18,997 attended at Staples Center.
Jordan Clarkson scores 19 and Julius Randle goes for a double-double (13pts/13rebs) Sunday night against the Blazers https://t.co/IxdK6DNU5M
