Los Angeles Lakers: Matchup two – Portland Trail Blazers
This looks to be a much more intriguing and hard to predict matchup. While the Lakers should surely move past any of the six teams mentioned in this article, the Blazers may have quite a case for toughest series of the bunch.
Currently sitting at 29-37, the Blazers are the ninth seed in the Western Conference. The Lakers lead the season series against Portland two games to one, with the final game not being played prior to the season suspension.
The positional matchups actually see Portland holding advantages in both guard spots, and the center spot while the Lakers (as you will see repeatedly) hold the advantage at both forward spots. The return of Jusuf Nurkic may prove to be huge for the Blazers, as he was primed to come back on March 15th, before the sports world came to a halt. Nurkic was extremely important to Portland last season before a gruesome injury ended his season and much of this one.
The Blazers have one of the league’s worst defenses, play at a pace the Lakers can match comfortably, and do not shoot the three at an incredibly high rate. They do however possess a top twelve offense in basketball, and adding Nurkic could make that even better.
A lineup in which Carmelo Anthony is on the bench while Nurkic and Whiteside are on the floor together could help, but may stall the offense in one way or another when the starters are on the court.
Once again, the Lakers defense and size may set them apart in a big way in this series. Damian Lillard alone can steal the Blazers one game, and depending the impact a fully healthy Nurkic may have, Portland could push this series to six games. However, a lack of forced turnovers and rebounding ability will without a doubt keep them from advancing if they do claim that eighth seed.