Foul Trouble and Turnovers
Aside from the Lakers’ scoring troubles there are two other striking concerns the team has – fouls and turnovers. The team averages the fourth-most fouls in the league with 22.3 per game. Similarly, the team averages the second-most turnovers in the league with 16.7 per game. The issues rose again on Saturday and may have even led to the Lakers losing the game.
The Lakers had 17 turnovers and 22 fouls. Contrarily, the Blazers only had 11 turnovers and 17 fouls. Although the Lakers made many costly fouls, the team was still lucky as the visitors struggled to capitalize. The Blazers were only able to complete 50 percent of their 14 free throws.
From the turnover point of view, however, the Lakers’ mistakes caught up to them. The Blazers finished with 16 points off of L.A.’s turnovers while the Lakers only had 8 points off of Portland’s turnovers.