Los Angeles Lakers survive the Trail Blazers without LeBron James

The story from the Los Angeles Lakers’ win:

Anthony Davis made all of the winning plays down the stretch!

Anthony Davis maybe had the quietest 30 point, 15 rebound game in NBA history, but in the final stretch, he did exactly what the Lakers need if they insist on playing small ball late. He rebounded the ball and dominated the center matchup.

Since he’s returned, AD has delivered the goods.

The Los Angeles Lakers won this game…BUT!

It’s really hard to analyze a game that was so bad on both sides. The Los Angeles Lakers won this game because really they had no choice. The Blazers are as bad as everyone says. Watching anyone besides Norman Powell on that Portland team on the floor in this game was cringeworthy!

• C.J. McCollum shot 5-17 for 15 points.
• Ben McLemore (To all of you Rob Pelinka haters…at least he didn’t keep him on the roster!) shot 1-9 for 2 points.
• Robert Covington (There are readers that think this guy can help the Lakers!) scored the same amount of points as you did reading this with zero points on 0-8 shooting!
• Dennis Smith Jr. shot 1-5 while showing no evidence on how to run an NBA offensive set for 2 points! 

Yet, the Lakers struggled to win this game. The Blazers outscored the Lake Show 24-1 in points off of turnovers.

Melo was hot as fish grease to start the game, but he finished the game with only 12 shots. He finished with 24 points, but he should have had at least 35.

This team needs leadership without LeBron James in the lineup. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be in the arena and the offensive discipline seems to be out of the lineup along with him.