Los Angeles Lakers blow By Portland despite Pat Bev’s antics

The Los Angeles Lakers were riding high after an improbable upset on Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies. With wins over elite teams, no matter the circumstances, the comment section tends to get a little bit spicy over our statements.

Lake Show Life:

"As long as the Los Angeles Lakers can beat a Memphis Grizzlies team with the best defense in the NBA with LeBron having a off night (23 points, 8-21 shooting!) and no AD, Austin Reaves or Lonnie Walker IV, the front office will use this game to justify that the roster is good enough.Saddle up Laker fans, this is going to be a bumpy ride for a few weeks."

Slick:

"It seems to be overlooked that the Lakers have been in most of these games down the stretch, regardless of how ” good” the opponent is for weeks now, without AD, Reaves, or Walker. Yet somehow, getting those guys back isn’t going to make any difference? Help make this take to make any sense."

Bossman:

"Exactly! The Lakers should have beaten the Mavs and Philly. Even with the rag tag team they have right now."

Well, the Los Angeles Lakers were giving away this game even though the Blazers spotted them an 18-4 lead, and with this so-called rag-tag bunch set an all-time franchise record by getting outscored 32 points in the second quarter.

The Los Angeles Lakers got an out-and-out stomping in the second quarter to find themselves down 25 points at halftime 71-46. Then something happened in the second half that totally belies analysis…analytics…or even belief.

The Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 121-112 in a furious comeback much like they had in the Memphis upset but stretched out over 24 minutes instead of four. There was another parade to the free throw line combined with LeBron James’ scoring spree in the third quarter.

Forget this good, bad, story stuff. We have to break this game down in acts because this game made no real sense on both sides.

The debates in the comment section will promise to be better than the post-game reports… trust!

The first act: The first quarter! 

What’s crazy about this game is that it looked like there was no chance of a close game! The Lakers came out on fire to start the game. No one was afraid of any Jusuf Nurkic rim protection and took advantage of the soft defense in what five seconds?

The Lakers raced off to a 18-4 lead before the National Anthem was finished. Everyone was tearing up in the paint. However, Anfernee Simons and Nasir Little started heating up from beyond the arc and the Blazers kept it somewhat close at 33-26.

Then…man who knows what happened for the rest of the game?

Act two: Patrick Beverley’s alligator mouth got the Lakers butt-whipped in the second quarter! 

Okay…try and follow what happened here because this is when the game became a blur. Now Damian Lillard was at the free-throw line. He was going back and forth with Patrick Beverley, who likes talks a lot right? Okay, this happens…please notice the score.

Okay, the Blazers went nuclear after this and went on a 31-8 run to a seemingly (Funny the feeling at the time right?) insurmountable 71-46 lead. Okay, let’s start cracking jokes and trying to find something to fill the 300-word minimum right?

But the NBA rulebook mandates that the teams play 48 minutes, a rule that Portland forgot and the Lakers went over at halftime.

Act three: LeBron James just absolutely destroyed Portland bringing the Lakers back almost by himself!

Okay…let’s review. The Blazers were up 25 points starting the second half after outscoring the Lakers 45-13. The Lakers just literally handed the ball to LeBron and he attacked the defense and went to the rim so many times that the Blazers were in the penalty basically 30 seconds after the halftime entertainment was over.

The Lakers hung a 40-piece BACK on Portland to the tune of 40-20. Now after all of this, the Lakers went into the final quarter with a manageable five-point deficit!

Act four: Somebody is going to call Thomas Bryant’s legal guardian with the beatdown he put on Portland in the final quarter.   

Bryant had a career night in this game, but we’ll get to the stats in a minute. But this dude broke out of a multi-game slump looking like Shaq!

Drew Eubanks actually had a good game. But with this monstrosity and another put-back dunk off a Troy Brown Jr. miss, Eubanks was never heard from again in this game and his teammates gave up with him. He provided the physicality that made the opponent quit. That is something that a box score cannot show a basketball fan.

The story of the Los Angeles Lakers win…(If we can get over the shock!):   

LeBron James knew this team needed a win and put this team on his back!

The staff of Lake Show Life has criticized LeBron James for letting go of the rope in games like these (That Cleveland Cavaliers loss is a great example!). He takes his foot off the peddle and shines things up for the box score while throwing in a highlight dunk for ESPN.

Man, that was not the case in this one. This dude was balling and took the heart out of the Portland Trail Blazers. If he took a 3-point shot, it would be hard to remember because he went to the rim with force and change the trajectory of the game.

He finished with 37 points (14-24 shooting!), 11 rebounds and 4 assists. It wasn’t the stats that was impressive, it was his grit. He just would not allow the Lakers to lose. He played like a superstar and lived up to the responsibilities of one!

Man this Thomas Bryant dude is a straight monster!

Bryant had a career-high 31 points (12-15 shooting!), 14 rebounds (5 offensive!) with four shots from the land of the extra point. Whatever LeBron started in the second half, this guy finished off. The Lakers better start finding ways to get this guy some money in the offseason. He plays hard and NBA teams will be lining up with offer sheets. This guy muscled down two seven-footers in a power forward’s body. Let that sink in.

Dennis Schroder has his swagger back!

Let’s be clear here. Dennis did not play well before the magical steal in the final moments on Friday. But he sure hit some big shots down the stretch in this one. He finished with 24 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. He took advantage of the penalty situation and knocked down ten free throws. Huge.

Lakers can land a recent lottery stud with this trade package

The Los Angeles Lakers need to make some kind of trade at the deadline and this potential deal for a recent lottery pick is enticing.

The Lakers play the Clippers on Tuesday. Maybe that game will make more sense than this one.