In the midst of his coldest streak of the year, Damian Lillard still turned up his game against the Lakers, like he has done throughout his young career.
The 25-year-old had shot just 34 percent in his last three games, but he knocked down 14-of-19 en route to 36 points in 29 minutes of Portland’s 121-103 victory over Los Angeles.
Meanwhile, his backcourt mate, C.J. McCollum, added 28 points (12-of-21), as both players combined for nine 3-pointers in the Trail Blazers’ eighth straight win against the purple and gold.
“We wanted to try to get the ball out of those two guys’ hands as much as possible,” head coach Byron Scott said. “Obviously that means if they’re playing pick-and-roll, we want to try to double them, and we didn’t do it. Simple as that. We talked about it before the game. We talked about it this morning.”
The Lakers (9-37) shot 49.3 percent from the field and had a 28-17 advantage in made free throws, but they simply gave Portland (20-26) too many offensive opportunities.
The Blazers had major advantages in offensive rebounds (14-4) and forced turnovers (18-8), leading to them taking 24 more shots than their visitors.
They got off to a quick start, turning around a 12-10 Lakers lead by scoring a dozen unanswered points and never surrendering that edge.
Though D’Angelo Russell scored 21 points on an 8-of-12 clip, L.A. struggled to narrow the gap, trailing by as many as 27.
“It’s kind of irrelevant, because by the time I do that, the game’s over,” Russell said. “I try to be patient and take what the game gives me the whole game, but by that time the game’s over.”
Julius meets him at the top!!
A photo posted by Los Angeles Lakers (@lakers) on Jan 23, 2016 at 9:20pm PST
Notes Lillard averages 26.7 points against the Lakers — the most of any opponent. … He scored 14 in the first quarter and 18 in the third. … Portland swept the season series for the second straight year. … A crowd of 19,728 sold out Moda Center for Kobe Bryant’s final game in Portland.
And thanks for everything #KB20 pic.twitter.com/L9Wo4WXS4o
