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LeBron James has not yet brought Showtime back to the Los Angeles Lakers.
But, at the very least, he won a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Lakers defeated the Blazers 114-110 on Saturday night at the Moda Center, ending Portland's 16-game winning streak in the series.
A victory would have given the Blazers 17 consecutive victories over the Lakers, which equals the franchise record of wins against an opponent. Instead, the Lakers (4-5) have avenged a loss to the Blazers (6-3) and have momentarily stopped their momentum early in the season, beating Portland for the first time since March 3, 2014.
GREAT PERFORMANCE
James recorded 28 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Rajon Rondo added 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists and JaVale McGee finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each scored 30 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Blazers.
THIRD TO FORGET
An entertaining home-and-home encounter turned into a Lakers victory in the third quarter, when the Lakers took control of the game.
When Lillard hit a jumper with 4.22 to go in the quarter, the Lakers led only 72 to 71 and it seemed like the match would remain a clash. But the Blazers would spend more than four minutes without scoring.
As Rondo reduced the number of passes, Lance Stephenson jumped and Josh Hart hit the three-pointer, the Lakers took a 16-0 run, opening a tight game.
It was only after 4.4 seconds, when Evan Turner nailed a midrange rider, that the race was over. After all, the Lakers took a 88-73 lead in the fourth.
The Blazers only managed 7 of 23 shots, including 1 of 10 at three points, and scored 16 points in the third quarter, which changed the game.
"They played us less," McCollum said of the third quarter. "We have to do a better job, do not turn the ball around, it's just a matter of making or missing shots, they shot more than us, they had a lot of points in transition." Dunks. Layups Three, so we had to simplify the game and I think we made it difficult. "
It was finished when
James entered the driveway with less than a minute, placing the ball inside McGee under the hoop. He took a shot in 28 seconds, giving the Lakers a 111-104 lead. This ended a series of delirious end-of-game sequences including compensating technical fouls, video criticism and a controversial Nurkic block from James to the rim, among other things.
CHANGE OF BENCH
The Blazers recorded a 6-2 record in their first eight games because of the outstanding play of their bench, which came in fifth in the NBA scoring (43.1 points per game), third in assists ( 10,5) and third. in percentage of three-point shooting (44.1).
But the Blazers' bench was dominated Saturday night.
The Lakers' bench beat the second unit of the 51-27 Blazers, helping Los Angeles to end its losing streak in Portland.
In addition to Rondo's regular play, Hart had 11 points and two blocks, Ivica Zubac was quietly effective inside (nine points, eight rebounds) and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lance Stephenson made timely shots.
Meanwhile, the Blazers' bench generated nine expensive turnarounds and all, with the exception of Meyers Leonard, recorded a negative plus-minus. Nik Stauskas scored only three points on a one-on-five shot, Seth Curry missed his five shot attempts and Evan Turner spat three turnovers.
"Rajon Rondo made the difference," said Blazers coach Terry Stotts. "At one point, his plus-minus was like 36. Their second unit came in and made a difference in the first half – our second unit did not really succeed on the track in both halves. . "
ROTATION OF 9 MEN
Stotts used a rotation of nine players in the first period against the Lakers.
In the lead up to Saturday's game, Stotts had already concocted a combination of Moe Harkless, Meyers Leonard and / or Caleb Swanigan in an extended rotation of 10 or 11 players. But Stotts shortened his bench to feature Turner, Zach Collins, Stauskas and Curry against the Lakers. Before the season, Stotts said he would juggle his rotation (how deep was it and who would be part of it), night after night, depending on the clashes and the performances of the team and the players.
He looked at Leonard early in the season, but had not played the role of the big substitute in the previous three games. Swanigan, who had a career win against the Pacers, played a leading role in the three-game series. Meanwhile, Harkless has not played in the last four games because of left knee pain.
Prior to Saturday's meeting, at a pre-game meeting with reporters, Stotts had stated that his rotation in the field zone would remain fluid.
"Nothing has changed since the beginning of the season," he said. "(Al-Farouq Aminu) and Nurkic and Zach were going to do the rotation, and this other place, be it Moe or Caleb or Meyers, everything is in the situation, and it's a little bit the same thing. got the first shot in Indiana and then Caleb made a good run, so we stuck to that, but … nothing is frozen. "
In fact, it is not even frozen from one half to the other. Stotts finally played more than nine players on Saturday. When Nurkic made his fourth foul in the middle of the third quarter, Stotts lured him to Leonard. And then, when Leonard was ineffective, he called for Swanigan.
THIS AND THAT
The Blazers fans were surprised by a recent sequence that seemed to show that consecutive calls were opposed to Portland. McGee seemed to engage the goalkeeper during a Lillard layup attempt with a 1:10 spread. Then, when Nurkic picked up the rebound and attacked the goal, the Moda Center became ballistic while the authorities did not blame James for blocking the shot. After the match, Lillard, who attended a replay of the game, said McGee had actually committed a goal violation. But Nurkic had a different view of James Block. "I thought it was a block," Nurkic said. "When I saw the rebroadcast, I think he blocked it." The Blazers were down six at the time. … The Blazers lost although they beat the Lakers 37-26 in the fourth quarter. … The Blazers scored the highest percentage of the season with 19 points. … Zach Collins finished with 10 points, reaching double digits for the fifth time this season. He has made it eight times his rookie season.
NEXT UP
The Blazers play the second game of a rare home Sunday night, when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves at 6 pm. in the center of Moda. The game is broadcast live on NBC Sports NW.
Joe Freeman | [email protected] | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman
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