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As the cliché goes: The NBA is a make-or-miss league.
On Monday at the Moda Center, the Los Angeles Lakers could not stop Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers from the perimeter. Led by Dame, the Blazers unleashed an epic 3-point shooting barrage in a 127-115 win that wasn't as close as that score suggests.
Portland hit 23-of-47 (48.9%) from downtown — six short of the NBA record for most triples in a game. Lillard made 8-of-12 in the first half (he finished with 40 points). Even Matisse Thybulle shot 4-of-6.
Yeah so Damian Lillard made 8-of-12 3s in the 1st half and scored 30 points. Blazers lead Lakers, 65-46.
Lakers shot 3-of-17 from 3 and 36.5% overall. Anthony Davis has 13 points and 13 rebounds. https://t.co/kTmw1PuqUL
— Michael Corvo (@michaelcorvo_) February 14, 2023
The Lakers went 12-of-37 from deep, including 3-of-17 before halftime (at which point the game was over). Trade deadline additions D'Angelo Russell and Malik Beasley had combined to shoot 4-of-21 in their first two games in Los Angeles until Beasley chucked up 5-of-8 in garbage time in Portland.
“They were making shots and we couldn't make any,” said Darvin Ham. “You got someone that's on fire. A team that's on fire.”
With LeBron James sitting out again with injury, the Blazers were too hot for the Lakers to handle. Ham acknowledged that there was nothing to be done about Dame and Co.
“He’s just an elite-level scorer, basketball player, smart,” Ham said of Lillard. “Finding ways to get the ball, even when we try to deny him … the way he uses screens. Just a phenomenal ball player. Outside of stealing his sneakers, I don’t know what else you can do. You play good D, and he still knocks down shots.”
Ham claimed that the Lakers' analytics report he checked at half indicated that the defensive shot quality they were giving up would rank amongst the top of the league. Maybe so, but one can't help but wonder if the data was skewed by the fact that nearly every one of Lillard's 3-pointers was either contested or from 25+ feet. The rest of the Blazers' first-half buckets came on high-quality looks, though some of that was by design (see: Thybulle).
Per Darvin Ham’s own words, he said an analytical review at halftime revealed that the Lakers defensive shot quality in the first half would have been the best in the league.
I have packaged all 17 first half made Blazers threes here for an eye test review. pic.twitter.com/fcwafodEnx
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 14, 2023
Both Ham and Anthony Davis acknowledged that the Blazers' onslaught may have deflated a reeling Lakers team, as they eye the All-Star break without certainty that LeBron will suit up before then.
“When you can't throw it in the ocean, it's human nature to kind of drop your shoulders a little bit,” said Ham.
Entering Monday, the Lakers were averaging 31.2 points per game on 3s (29th in the league) while giving up 37.5 (20th). It's a lingering issue. In fairness to Ham's squad, though, the 1994 New York Knicks may not have been able to stop Dame.
