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Los Angeles Lakers: 3 important battles to win vs. Trail Blazers

By Kevin Germany

PORTLAND, OREGON - DECEMBER 06: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers tries to get around Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half of the game at Moda Center on December 06, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. 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. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images)
PORTLAND, OREGON - DECEMBER 06: Damian Lillard #0 of the Portland Trail Blazers tries to get around Anthony Davis #3 of the Los Angeles Lakers during the first half of the game at Moda Center on December 06, 2019 in Portland, Oregon. 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. (Photo by Steve Dykes/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Battle #1: Who gets the most points in the paint?

SPOILER: The Los Angeles Lakers are not letting Damian Lillard shoot from half-court. How will Portland score given Dame will be double-teamed all night long?

Obviously, the scouting report is to not let Damian Lillard shoot at all. The Los Angeles Lakers will trap Damian Lillard, or at least hard hedge the Dame/Nurkic pick-and-rolls. Dame will overcome the Lakers’ efforts to trap him and still make spectacular pull-up threes.

But he is not getting the same kind of looks he got against Dallas, or any other team besides Brooklyn (who ran defenses more common in high school just to slow him down). The Lakers would be wise to throw a similar defense at Dame.

This better not happen!

Assuming the Lakers follow conventional wisdom and play an unconventional defense, there will be lots of opportunities for Portland to finish inside. Unsurprisingly, ever since defenses wised up, Portland’s points in the paint went up: from fifteenth (37.7%) to ninth (43.3%) out of 22 teams after the Mavericks game on August 11.

Who benefits from the all-out effort to stop Dame? Everyone else. Portland center Jusuf Nurkic is the primary beneficiary inside; Carmelo Anthony and CJ McCollum get to attack scrambled defenses. Sixth man Gary Trent Jr has been a namesake because opposing teams leave him wide open by default.

Portland normally is not a paint-bound team. They are by necessity.

The Lakers are by choice. They lead all teams left in points in the paint and eschew (about time!) three-pointers in favor of attacking the basket. The Lakers need to score more points in the paint to score more points in general.

Good news: everyone is having career games against their paper-thin defense. Anthony Davis can easily go for 40 points if he so chooses.

If Lakers’ coach Frank Vogel starts Kyle Kuzma at shooting guard, Kuz will feast on CJ McCollum and anyone else inside. As will, of course, LeBron James.

Both teams are tied in allowing 43.8 points inside the paint, good for seventh. Something has to give. Look at how many points are scored in the paint as an indicator of who wins.

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