Blazers pull away from shorthanded Lakers | Inquirer Sports

Blazers pull away from shorthanded Lakers

/ 02:33 PM November 07, 2021

Damian Lillar

FILE – Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center on November 01, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Damian Lillard bounced back from one of the worst performances of his NBA career to score 25 points and lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 105-90 win against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night.

Lillard was held to four points in a win against the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, matching the lowest output of his career. Lillard shot 2-for-13 from the floor against Indiana and missed all six of his 3-point attempts.

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He bounced back to make 9-of-19 against the short-handed Lakers, including 6-of-14 from 3-point range. Jusuf Nurkic contributed 15 points and 17 rebounds for the Trail Blazers.

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The Lakers continued to be without four-time MVP LeBron James, who missed his second straight game with an abdominal strain.

Anthony Davis started against Portland, but the eight-time All-Star center played just seven minutes before departing because of a stomach illness. The team said it was non-COVID-19 related. Davis was also dealing with a sprained right thumb and was questionable to play at all.

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The Lakers did not have a starter score in double figures.

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Malik Monk scored 13 points, Carmelo Anthony had 12 and Dwight Howard 11 off the bench for Los Angeles.

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The Lakers never led and fell behind by double digits for good when Nurkic made a driving layup off an assist from Lillard for a 21-10 lead with 5:16 left in the first quarter.

Portland stretched the lead to 34-12 with 51.5 seconds left in the opening quarter and maintained a 22-point advantage entering the second.

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The Trail Blazers led by as many as 24 points in the second quarter before a scoring drought of nearly 4 1/2 minutes allowed the Lakers to claw back 14 points.

Portland managed to maintain its double digit-lead before taking a 51-36 advantage into the break.

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The Lakers scored the first four points of the second half to pull within 11, but the Trail Blazers outscored Los Angeles 42-22 the rest of the quarter to take an 83-62 lead into the fourth.

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TAGS: Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard, Lebron James, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trail Blazers

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