Blazers match up really well with the Lakers now that they have Nurkic and Collins back, and the Lakers don’t have one of their best perimeter defenders in Bradley. Lillard and McCollum will eat the Lakers alive and Nurkic, Collins and Whiteside can hold their own against the Lakers big men on the boards. The only piece Portland lacks is a LeBron stopper.
Rivers had an opportunity tonight but his ball protection was worse than his 3ball. Still very good defender, but so is Luc.
Yes, Portland isn’t great defensively, but the Lakers will not be able to stop them from scoring, and they won’t have a massive rebounding advantage like they do against most teams. The Lakers are going to have as much trouble with Lillard as the Blazers will with LeBron. If Nurkic can play good defense on Anthony Davis, they have a shot. If he can’t, the Lakers will win a hard fought series. Either way, Portland will make the Lakers work a lot harder than they want in a 1 vs. 8 matchup. Which is good for the rest of the Western Conference playoff teams.
Lakers are taking rest for playoff. The next few matches are not easy especially Houston wants to keep the 4th seed. Nuggets may want to be 4th seed as well. I think thunder is not easy to win. The ideal 1st round matchup should be vs Jazz.
Blazers are very strong in all positions, their full.team is stronger than nuggets. Their backup center whiteside is strong too. They are the black horse this year.
Problem is the Lakers have been coasting for so long that you can’t expect them to suddenly turn it on when the postseason starts.
Solid win, but basically a 7 man rotation in a game that was won in the 2nd quarter. D’Antoni really cannot help himself, can he?!
They have lacked shooters even before the pandemic. Clippers were always favored by some because they had perimeter D and shooting. Good for AD and LBJ for pulling this record.
Man so glad to see luc as a Rocket again. You can see him yapping Westbrook's ear off and pointing things out. I didn't see Sefalosha doing this. Again his eyes off the bench are going to be awesome.