Lakers vs Blazers: LeBron James falls, Damian Lillard doubles, Carmelo conundrum among three things to watch out for

Now that the Portland Trail Blazers have secured the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference, let the conversation move on whether they have a realistic chance of upending the seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. If you think they do, it’s largely for a reason: They’ve got Damian Lillard, who is currently lighting Disney World on fire. Of course, the Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. So, you know, not a bad superstar counter.

Below, we’ll cover some of the questions and match dilemmas that figure to color this series, which I think is the most intriguing of all the series in the first round. You can also find each game’s schedule and TV information, which will continue to be updated with results for as long as the series lasts, here.

(1) Lakers vs. (8) Blazers schedule

Every hour in the East

Game 1: Tuesday, August. 6pm, 9pm, TNT
Game 2: Thursday, August 20, 9 p.m., ESPN
Game 3: Saturday August 22, 8:30 p.m., ABC
Game 4: Monday August 24, 9 p.m., TNT
Game 5: Wednesday August 26, TBD, TBD
Game 6: Friday August 28, TBD, TBD
Game 7: Sunday August 30, TBD, TBD

1. Star Wars

As we touched on above, if the Blazers have any chance of making this series worthwhile, let alone winning it, Damian Lillard has to be something close to the type of best player in the productive world. At this point, it seems like a pretty good bet. In addition to Lillard, CJ McCollum will have to play like a star. As a duo, in terms of pure scoring, the Blazers’ short-back can follow LeBron and AD.

And they will need it. McCollum is playing with a fractured lower back, which looks horrible, but judging by how McCollum performed in the play-in game against Memphis, he’s still able to create an individual attack on a consistent basis. The Lakers don’t have a lot of defenders to throw on these two, especially without Avery Bradley. LeBron will likely have to spend some time on Lillard, which is a tough game with James, not to mention the energy expenditure.

There is of course a flip side to this, and that is that Portland doesn’t have a prayer to keep LeBron individually. Gary Trent Jr., Mario Hezonja, Carmelo Anthony, forget it. This is where Trevor Ariza stepping out of the bubble really hurts the Blazers – not that Ariza would scare James even an ounce, but it would have been an individual option to at least make LeBron work a bit. bit without having to reduce your defense with double teams (more on this in a bit).

So while LeBron is going to get where he wants to in this series, the Blazers have at least some size to face with Davis, but Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside are not going to follow him to the perimeter, where he will be operating a lot in isolation and pick-and-roll with LeBron. Zach Collins could play a central role here. Like LeBron with Ariza, Collins won’t make Davis blink, but it’s a reasonable match to at least get him to work while keeping some semblance of defensive balance intact.

Davis will also have his hands full. Nurkic is in a ball. He had 22 points and 21 rebounds in Portland’s victory over Memphis.

2. Doubles and drops

The Lakers are almost certain to double down and trap Lillard at least for stretching. If he’s hot, they’ll almost certainly commit to getting the ball out of his hands at all costs. Lillard has reached the point where you need to send him multiple defenders the moment he crosses the half court if you don’t want to find yourself on the trading side of a blowtorch.

This opens up win-win situations for the Blazers, who have the shooters to charge the Lakers to send two to Lillard. The math is going to leave Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., and of course McCollum open for a lot of shots, and these guys are knocking them all down right now. Nurkic also showed a good feeling for taking short passes and getting to the basket, completing tricky pushes or kicking shooters. The Blazers are a very dangerous offensive team for the simple reason that Lillard is going to burn you one way or the other: alone, cover him, and he’ll have 50; double and open shooters charge you.

For the Lakers, it’s a little different. They don’t have the Blazers’ collective fire. The Blazers will happily live the entire series with Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma and Dion Waiters getting into the threesome. That’s not to say that they aren’t able to knock them out, but it’s better to bet that they won’t than to let LeBron do whatever he wants.

The difference is you don’t have to pass LeBron 40 feet from the basket like you do with Lillard. They will also let him draw as many threes as he wants. What LeBron wants to do is play the pick-and-roll game to get switches that give him the edge against a Nurkic or a Collins, or God forbid, Carmelo Anthony. The Blazers probably won’t give him that opportunity if they can help him and drop their retreating bigs as much as possible; make him hit pull-ups.

Of course, LeBron won’t be content with pull-ups. It will use the downhill track to reach the rim. But Nurkic, Collins and Whiteside at least have a chance to protect the rim. On the perimeter, they are cooked. It’s going to be a series, I guess, largely defined by the Lakers keeping Lillard’s pick-and-rolls aggressively and the Blazers keeping LeBron’s pick-and-rolls conservatively.

3. Riddle of Carmelo

Anthony was superb in the bubble, scoring 16.5 points per game on just under 46% of shots, including 47% of three. Say whatever you want about Melo, but Portland’s attack doesn’t hurt to hold up – unless Lillard just goes mad – with Melo on the ground. It is a spacer. A shooter. I hear his back post-ups and one-dribble pull-ups are an analytical nightmare, but right now they’re doing a BIG part of what Portland does offensively.

Defense of Anthony is another story. He’s trying really hard, and whether it’s because he’s slimmed down or just trying a little harder, he’s at least giving himself a fighting chance to keep the guys from dribbling. Yet, unless LeBron decides to take it easy with his Banana Boat pal, which we can safely assume he won’t, Melo is going to be chased relentlessly via switches and forced to defend himself. in the space. If that doesn’t go well, at what point will he turn a net negative even with his attack?

As long as Melo shoots, he will stay in the game, because at the end of the day, the only chance the Blazers have to win this series is a shootout. They’re not going to hold back the Lakers. They’re going to have to aim for more than 120 points in every game and try their luck that the Lakers don’t hit. Still, they can’t just be a defensive red carpet. Melo needs to be at least competitive for this purpose so as not to force Terry Stotts to make the difficult decision of having to decide to leave him on the floor.