Luka Doncic scored 41 points Tuesday night, and the Lakers still lost. The Portland Trail Blazers won 136-129 in Los Angeles and are 3-0, and I’m officially done pretending this team is a cute early-season story.
Doncic was everything you’d expect: 41 points on 12-of-22 shooting, six 3-pointers, 11-of-13 at the line and nine assists. The Lakers led for most of the night, up by as many as 11. It didn’t matter, because Portland had six guys who could beat you.
Six Blazers in double figures
- Deni Avdija: 23 points, 9 assists
- Ja Morant: 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting
- Jrue Holiday: 22 points, 8-of-12
- Damian Lillard: 21 points
- Robert Williams III: 14 points, 10 rebounds
- Toumani Camara: 12 points, 4-of-5 from three
Portland shot 59 percent from the floor and 18-of-36 from three. You can’t guard that with one superstar and hope.
How it was decided
The fourth quarter was a shootout. Then Morant hit back-to-back short jumpers inside the final two minutes, and Lillard buried a step-back 3 with 43 seconds left to finish it. Dame closing games again feels right.
My take: Portland is for real, at least for now. When your fifth-best scorer is Robert Williams with a double-double, you’ve got depth most of the West would trade for. The Lakers have Luka and Austin Reaves (26 points), and that’s a great top two. It wasn’t enough Tuesday. Faders, are the Blazers a playoff team?
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Jeremy Durham is a sports columnist for TriStar Daily and the founder of Five and a Fade.
