LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The Portland Trail Blazers came into the bubble three games out of the playoffs and two weeks later they’re one game up on the No.1 seeded Los Angeles Lakers in their first round best of seven series. BOOM!!! They picked up where they left off in the bubble beating the haphazard Lakers 100-93.
Dame Lillard and Co. got out of the ride and went to work right out of the gate, keeping the LA on its heels all night. Lillard finished the night with 34 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds while CJ McCollum dropped off 21 points. Carmelo Anthony had a solid 11.
LeBron was amazing for the Lakers dropping off a mean triple double with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 16 assists but it simply wasn’t enough to extinguish the red hot flame of the Trail Blazers. Anthony Davis finished with 28 points but had 21 of them in the first half. In the words of the big homie, Shaq, on the TNT post-game show, “It simply wasn’t good enough.” You can’t score 7 points in the second half when you’re in the playoffs!! Not when you’re playing the 8th seed that is confident.
Kyle Kuzma finished the night with 14 points off the bench as Danny Green dropped off 10 points.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! The Lakers being the No.1 seed had to make a statement in Game 1 to slow the Trail Blazers down. They are way too confident right now and they’ve got shooters everywhere.
Luckily for LA this isn’t the NCAA Tournament where you’ve only got to play only one game to advance. Portland’s got to win four times instead of once. However, with the Lakers being behind the eight ball coming into Game 2 should make this thing fun to watch. How will the Philistine react to being down 0-1 to the 8th seed? How will the rest of the team respond to a disappointing showing in Game 1?
Most importantly, how will Portland’s confidence propel them the rest of the way? In my Bart Scott voice, “Can’t Wait” to see it play out. Stop me when I start lyin’!
