EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The Lakers made one thing clear Thursday — their bubble isn’t going to burst that easily. The Lakers made their three-pointers (finally!), continued to play tough defense and looked more like the dominant team that was rolling over opponents when the league shut down in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Anthony Davis was unstoppable Thursday and the Lakers made 14 three-pointers, their highest total ever in a playoff game, to even the series with Portland at 1-1. Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Orlando. The Lakers struggled badly behind the arc in Game 1, making only five of 32 for an unsightly 15.6 percent accuracy. That wasn’t the case Thursday. Not at all. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope scored a very important 16 points while making four of six three-point shots. He was indicative of the Lakers’ month-long struggle with the three-point line, coming into the night shooting a rough 22 percent behind the arc since the league resumed play in The Bubble. Pope's improvement seemed to be contagious. The Lakers shot a much more respectable 36.8 percent from three-point range in Game 2. Davis, for his part, was stellar with 31 points and was eminently more aggressive than in the Lakers’ surprising 100-93 Game 1 loss. He eschewed jump shots in Game 2 to score 16 of his 21 first-half points in the paint. Davis also became the only Lakers’ player in the shot-clock era to collect at least 30 points and 10 rebounds in under 30 minutes of a playoff game. The red-hot Trail Blazers entered the playoffs averaging 126 points in The Bubble. They are averaging only 94 against the Lakers. This has to concern them. Portland also had some bad injury news. All-Star guard Damien Lillard dislocated his left index finger while trying to steal the ball from Davis late in the third quarter. X-rays were negative and Lillard said he would play in Game 3. He had a relatively pedestrian 18 points when he left Thursday's game. Lillard hit the Lakers for 34 points in the playoff opener but wasn’t nearly as effective in the rematch, making only one of seven from three-point range. The Lakers quieted some critics and returned a modicum of clout to a franchise with 16 championships. Thursday was their first playoff victory since May 2012, by far the longest gap between playoff wins for the 72-year-old franchise. They need three more wins to beat Portland and play Oklahoma City or Houston in the next round. |
Lakers Look More Like Themselves, Even Playoff Series at 1-1 vs. Portland
PUBLISHED 11:00 PM PDT Aug. 20, 2020