The Portland Trail Blazers took a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back, surviving a few half-hearted scares to top the Luka-less Los Angeles Lakers (say that five times fast) 132-116.
With Deni Avdija out again with a back injury (and seen sitting on the sideline in an elevated chair), Portland got contributions up and down the roster, with eight players scoring at least 8 points.
Player of the Game
Shaedon Sharpe, who went for 25-3-4 with 2 steals on 9-18 shooting (4-8 from deep) and had a number of highlight lob finishes, including one he DIDN’T finish that would have been a candidate for wildest lob of the year. Combine that with his proficiency from deep and a handful of really nice dimes, and you have all the fixings for a classic “maybe he COULD be a star!” Sharpe game.
Honorable Mention: Jerami Grant. Coming off the bench, Grant played a mere 22 minutes, but made his presence felt in nearly every one of those minutes, scoring 22 points and going 3-4 from downtown.
What We Noticed
Free throws! And a lot of them, particularly in the first half (see below). Even without Deni Avdija, Portland generated free money from the stripe seemingly at will, attacking a Lakers team whose tallest starter was 6’10”… VERY tall in the real world, but only kinda tall for the NBA, and downright short for an NBA center.
Donovan Clingan likes threes… and maybe a little TOO much. The second-year center took seven attempts from deep, hitting just a single one. While the lack of hesitation was nice, there were precious few times the Lakers actually collapsed on his deep shots, failing to produce the single most important benefit of having your big man launch from space (besides the shots actually falling, of course).
Stat of the Night
27 – First-half free throws attempted by Portland, made all the more remarkable by the fact that the Lakers finished with just 21 for the entire game.
Up Next
Portland has no rest as they prepare to face the Kings in Sacramento tomorrow, Sun. Jan. 18 at 6pm Pacific.
