This was supposed to be the first win of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers and the day on which they started to turn their season around.
They led early 6-0, then 10-2, only to see the Portland Trail Blazers build a sizable lead late in the first quarter and into the second quarter.
Los Angeles fought back and took back the lead late in the third quarter, and with 1:56 left in the final frame, it took a 102-95 advantage.
Instead of getting into the victory column, the Lakers failed to finish the game strong, and they ended up losing 106-104.
They once again couldn’t buy a 3-pointer, as they shot 6-of-33 from downtown, and down the stretch, their defense didn’t pick up the slack.
For the Blazers, Damian Lillard scored 41 on 15-of-25 shooting.
The Lakers are now 0-3, and the anxiety is building in Southern California.
Anthony Davis: A-
Davis shook off a painful spill he took against the Los Angeles Clippers to score 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, to go along with 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and six blocked shots.
However, he couldn’t prevent the Blazers from scoring the game-winning bucket, as Jerami Grant got inside for a layup with 3.0 seconds left as Davis was late coming over to defend the basket.
LeBron James: A-
James played his usual strong game, putting up 31 points on 12-of-22 shooting, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocked shots. The one thing he didn’t do well (like the rest of his team) was shoot 3-pointers, as he went 2-of-9 from the distance.
The four-time MVP has a finite amount of such games left in his 37-year-old body, and the Lakers wasted one of them on an inexcusable loss.
Russell Westbrook: D
It was another frustrating outing for Westbrook, as he shot just 4-of-15 from the field and 0-of-3 from downtown while finishing with 10 points, six rebounds and six assists.
The one play that will stick out for Lakers fans came with 27.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter when, with his team leading by one, Westbrook missed a pull-up jumper from midrange instead of using a little more of the shot clock and getting the ball to a teammate for a better shot.
Patrick Beverley: D+
Beverley was relatively ineffective offensively, going 1-of-3 from the field (all on 3-pointers), although he did have five assists.
But by allowing Lillard to go off for 41 points, Beverley didn’t quite do the type of defensive job people have come to expect from him.
Lonnie Walker IV: B+
For the second straight game, Walker gave L.A. a lift offensively, going 7-of-13 from the field to finish with 15 points. It’s exactly what the team brought him in to do – give James and Davis support in terms of scoring in order to take pressure off them and lessen their workload.
Troy Brown Jr.: D+
After missing all of the preseason and the Lakers’ first two regular season games, Brown made his 2022-23 debut on Sunday. He was not that effective, as he went 2-of-7 from the field and missed both of his 3-point attempts.
Juan Toscano-Anderson: B
In 20 minutes, Toscano-Anderson made 2-of-3 shots while contributing two rebounds and one steal.
Kendrick Nunn: F
Nunn went 0-of-7 on Thursday, and Sunday was about as bad for him, as he missed all three of his shot attempts and went scoreless. His only positive contribution on the stat sheet was one assist in 10 minutes.
Austin Reaves: B
Reaves was the only Laker player to shoot well from beyond the arc, as he went 2-of-4 from that distance. He finished with seven points, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes.
Damian Jones: C
Jones got just six minutes, and he managed to go 2-of-4 from the field while grabbing two rebounds.
