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Los Angeles Lakers: 5 Reasons why the Blazers can win a playoff series

By Ronald Agers

Los Angeles Lakers (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.
Los Angeles Lakers (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. /
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Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /

Damian Lillard is having a career year and he’s been known to send some teams home in upsets. Ask Dwight Howard!

The Los Angeles Lakers have taken two out of three games from the Portland Trail Blazers. The wins were against a seriously depleted Portland squad that opened the smallest of windows to get Carmelo Anthony back in the NBA.

The game that applies here is the one win Portland had in January. Yes, this was the first game back after the death of Lakers icon Kobe Bryant, but this is about Damian Lillard. Dame is known to get into zones. Blame it on the emotions, but the Lakers lost because Lillard went crazy in the 3rd quarter.

After Lillard received a technical foul, he surgically dismantled the Lakers. He had the Staples Center in a buzz with his shooting display finishing with one rebound shy of his second triple-double in a row.

The numbers added up to 48 points, 10 assists, and nine rebounds. It’s the highest scoring total in his career against the Lakers.

Okay? So? Everyone can get hot right? Let’s discuss the games before this one!

  • Against Golden State:
    Damian Lillard scored 61 points on a nationally televised game on TNT. He is on a very short list of players in NBA history that have multiple 60 point games in his career. Kobe Bryant is on that list along with Wilt Chamberlain. He also had 10 rebounds and seven assists. Plus, he hit a huge 3-pointer to send it into overtime.
  • Against the Dallas Mavericks:
    Lillard dropped 47 points, eight assists and six rebounds in a loss. It was the only loss in the hot streak. At this point, he was basically carrying the franchise on his back. 
  • Against the Indiana Pacers:
    This was the night Kobe Bryant passed. Lillard laid a 50 point whipping on the Pacers with 13 assists and six rebounds. He shot 66% from 3-point land and 60% overall from the field. 
  • Against the Houston Rockets:
    Damian Lillard had never gotten a triple-double in his career coming into the game. Check that off the bucket list. He had a 36 point, 11 assist, 10 rebound game. 
  • The 10 games before this game:
    Damian Lillard averaged 36 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds.

Damian Lillard, who is having a career season and believes his team can beat the Lakers if afforded the opportunity. With averages 28.9 points and 7.8 assists per game so far this season, can you blame him?. These are both career-highs, and he is one of the game’s most feared clutch performers. We all remember Dame sending the Thunder home and sent stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook packing.

Ask Dwight Howard about his last days in a Houston Rockets uniform. Lake Show Life assumes that he will stop smiling.

The point here is this. Damian Lillard can get hot. The Portland Trail Blazers’ loss to the Pelicans is history so let’s not entertain that narrative. Different team, different schemes, different circumstances.

We see what Lillard did in a ten-game stretch, a playoff series is only four.

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