Los Angeles Lakers: Dennis Schröder is key vs. Portland Trail Blazers

Dennis Schröder is crucial as the Los Angeles Lakers take on the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Portland Trail Blazers have something to prove after their first-round exit in the playoffs at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Portland is as dangerous as ever, running it back with the same team plus defensive-minded wings Robert Covington and Derrick Jones Jr. But the Lakers are far more dangerous, adding Marc Gasol, Dennis Schröder, Wesley Matthews, and Montrezl Harrell to an already elite rotation.

Alas, the circumstances are different in the Staples Center tonight: Carmelo Anthony is out for Portland; LeBron James or Anthony Davis are available but may play limited minutes. Dennis Schröder must guard Damian Lillard while taking on more ball-handling duties.

That is a tall order. Can Schröder deliver for the Los Angeles Lakers tonight?

How Dennis Schröder can guard Damian Lillard

Guarding Lillard only requires not letting him get to the basket or shoot from half-court. He has to pick him up full-court and navigate an endless maze of ball screens in the process.

He also might have to guard Lillard by himself as Marc Gasol and Montrezl Harrell may not be of much assistance. Gasol and Harrell need to either double-team Lillard off the pick-and-roll or stay home to guard Jusuf Nurkic, Portland’s serially underrated man in the middle, all the while making an effort to corral Lillard’s drives to the basket.

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Easier said than done. My vote is to double team Lillard about 70% of the time. In my view, it is better to sell out on stopping Lillard than to let him go off for 50 points.

Good luck on defending Lillard — and if he is not in the game, CJ McCollum, perhaps the most underrated guard in the NBA, takes command of the offense.

Again, easier said than done.

How Dennis Schröder must initiate the Los Angeles Lakers offense:

Schröder is accustomed to attacking scrambled defenses in a star-centric offense. In Oklahoma City, he had to learn how to attack defenses off the catch. Former OKC guard Chris Paul and LeBron James have wildly different playstyles but share one thing in common: they both like to have the ball in their hands.

Now, with LeBron’s minutes likely being reduced against Portland, Schröder will again have to initiate the offense as the primary ball-handler, as he did with the Atlanta Hawks. By no means should Schröder reprise his ball-dominant ways. Rather, he has to be even more unselfish.

As LeBron did against Minnesota, he must push the pace and keep the ball moving. If the Lakers move the ball as quickly as they did here, the 29 other teams in the NBA should be terrified.

https://twitter.com/Lakers/status/1343414964891971586

Portland especially – their defense is already weak, considering they gave up 120 points to the Utah Jazz and 126 points to the shorthanded Houston Rockets, whose disgruntled superstar, James Harden, nearly carried the team to victory with 44 points and 17 assists. Only CJ McCollum’s 44 points spared Portland from an 0-2 start.

That was Utah and Houston, considered to be middle of the pack teams in the Western Conference. The Lakers are the defending NBA champions and got even better because the new acquisitions have already made a huge impact.

For example, defenders cannot take a single second of a single possession off when the Lakers pass and cut this hard on offense. Especially when Marc Gasol is in the game.

Schröder just has to pass the ball to the right players at the right spots, then pass and cut to generate good shots for the offense.

Less is more for a team this talented.