Without All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, the Portland Trail Blazers did all they could. Unfortunately, the Anthony Davis and LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers were just too much.
Blazers head coach Terry Stotts applauded his team's courageous effort against the Lakers in their season-ending Game 5 defeat, despite entering the contest with nothing to lose.
Via Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian on the Blazers:
“As I said before the game, I thought we would compete and we did,” Terry Stotts said. “I was really proud with how we played tonight but we ran out of gas.”
“They could have cashed it in, but they didn’t,” Stotts said about the Blazers.
The Blazers found themselves trailing by as much as 14 points in the third quarter and faced an 8-point deficit heading into the final frame. They could have easily folded and let this turn into a blowout.
But as they have done all season, the Blazers still fought to the end and even managed to even up the score at 109-all with less than seven minutes remaining in the game.
Los Angeles, however, went on a 16-3 run to take a 13-point lead with just three minutes and change remaining and put the Blazers away for good.
Without Lillard by his side, CJ McCollum with 36 points, six rebounds, and seven assists, while shooting 13-of-25 from the field and knocking down three 3-pointers. Carmelo Anthony also stepped up big time with 27 points on 9-of-16 shooting in his final playoff game in what became a redemption campaign for the veteran forward with the Blazers.
Injuries certainly took their toll on the Blazers, which only had nine active players on Saturday. Nonetheless, the team has to be proud with the way it went down swinging.
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