Recap: LeBron James & Austin Reaves Get Lakers Back On Track Against Trail Blazers
Yesterday at 12:33 AM
After a rough loss to the Charlotte Hornets coming out of the All-Star break, the Los Angeles Lakers were back in action on Thursday night on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers.
With it being the second night of a back-to-back, the Lakers were shorthanded in this one without Luka Doncic and Jarred Vanderbilt. The Trail Blazers have been one of the hottest teams in the league in recent weeks, but the Lakers were able to come away with a 110-102 victory to get back on track.
For the second straight game, the Lakers started slow offensively as they missed their first six shots before a three-point play by Austin Reaves. After getting ejected against the Hornets, Reaves was playing with a purpose early and then Jaxson Hayes threw down a massive dunk to give the Lakers a 17-8 lead.
Trey Jemison made an immediate impact in his minutes off the bench and Reaves continued leading the way with 12 first quarter points, putting his team up double digits going into the second at 28-15.
LeBron James went into attack mode from there as the Lakers continued to build their lead. The Trail Blazers then answered with an 9-0 run though to get it back to single digits and keep the game from getting out of reach.
Outside of James and Reaves, the Lakers couldn’t get much going offensively, but those two still did enough to head into the halftime locker room leading 55-47.
The Lakers couldn’t stop turning the ball over to start the third quarter and Deni Avdija took advantage with 14 straight points for his team to cut the deficit to two.
Both teams were playing physical and the Lakers weren’t getting a favorable whistle. James kept them afloat offensively for much of the third, but the lead was just 78-77 going into the final quarter.
Dorian Finney-Smith began the fourth with a big triple for L.A. James then got in on the action with two in a row to spark an 8-0 run.
The Trail Blazers refused to go away though, continuing to create turnovers, and the Lakers found themselves in another dog fight going into the final couple of minutes.
When they needed it most, James and Reaves came up big for their team with winning plays on both sides of the floor to secure the victory for L.A.
Despite playing in the second night of a back-to-back, James led all scorers with 40 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. Reaves was right there with him, finishing with 32 points, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
As a team, the Lakers survived despite turning the ball over 22 times.
What’s next for the Lakers
The Lakers face another tough road test on Saturday night when they take on Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. The hope is the team will be back at full strength for that one.
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