The Blazers will gladly live all series long with Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma and Dion Waiters launching threes. Its not to state they arent capable to knocking them down, but its a much better bet that they will not than letting LeBron have his method.
The distinction is you dont have to double LeBron 40 feet from the basket like you do Lillard. What LeBron desires to do is play the pick-and-roll game to get switches that provide him the advantage against a Nurkic or Collins, or heaven forbid, Carmelo Anthony.
Of course, LeBron wont settle for pull-ups. Hell utilize the downhill runway to get to the rim.
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Response: Trail Blazers Earn Right To Play Lakers In First Round
( 3:19).
Davis will have his hands complete, too. Nurkic is balling. He had 22 points and 21 rebounds in Portlands play-in win over Memphis..
2. Doubles and Drops.
The Lakers are nearly particular to double and trap Lillard a minimum of for stretches. If he fumes, theyll practically definitely dedicate to taking the ball out of his hands at all costs. Lillard has reached the point where you need to send numerous protectors at him the minute as he crosses half court if you dont wish to wind up on the organization end of a blow torch..
That opens advantageous scenarios for the Blazers, who have the shooters to make the Lakers spend for sending two at Lillard. The mathematics is going to leave either Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr. and of course McCollum open for a lot of shots, and those guys are all knocking them down a high clip today. Nurkic has actually also revealed a good feel for taking short-roll passes and either getting to he basket, ending up fragile push-shots or kicking to shooters. The Blazers are an extremely dangerous offensive group for the simple factor that Lillard is going to burn you one method or the other: Single cover him, and hell get 50; double him and open shooters make you pay..
McCollum is playing with a fractured lower back, which sounds dreadful, but judging off the way McCollum played in the play-in game vs. Memphis, hes still capable of creating one-on-one offense on a consistent basis. The Lakers do not have a lot of defenders to throw at those two, especially without Avery Bradley.
Theres an other side to that coin, obviously, which is that Portland doesnt have a prayer of securing LeBron individually. Gary Trent Jr., Mario Hezonja, Carmelo Anthony, forget about it. This is where Trevor Ariza deciding out of the bubble actually injures the Blazers– not that Ariza would strike even an ounce of fear into James, but it wouldve been an individually choice to at least make LeBron work a bit without having to collapse your defense with double groups (more in this in a bit)..
So while LeBron is going to get wherever he wants in this series, he Blazers do at least have some size to compete with Davis, however Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside are not going to keep up with him on the border, where hell be operating a lot in both isolation and pick-and-roll with LeBron. Zach Collins might play a critical role here. Like LeBron with Ariza, Collins will not make Davis blink, but its a sensible matchup to a minimum of make him work while keeping some form of protective balance undamaged..
If you believe they do, its mostly for one reason: They have Damian Lillard, who is currently lightning Disney World on fire. Of course, the Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Listed below well enter into a few of the questions and match predicaments that figure to color this series, which I believe to be the most interesting of all the first-round series. You can also discover the schedule and TV information for each game, which will continue to upgrade with outcomes as long as the series lasts, here..
( 1) Lakers vs. (8) Blazers schedule.
All times Eastern.
Game 1: Tuesday, Aug. 18, 9 p.m., TNTGame 2: Thursday, Aug. 20, 9 p.m., ESPNGame 3: Saturday, Aug. 22, 8:30 p.m., ABCGame 4: Monday, Aug. 24, 9 p.m., TNTGame 5: Wednesday, Aug. 26, TBD, TBDGame 6: Friday, Aug. 28, TBD, TBDGame 7: Sunday, Aug. 30, TBD, TBD.
1. Star Wars.
As we touched on above, if the Blazers have any chance to make this series interesting, let alone win it, Damian Lillard has to be something close to best-player-in-the-world type efficient. As a duo, in terms of pure scoring, the Blazers back court can keep up with LeBron and AD.
3. Carmelo conundrum.
Anthony has been exceptional in the bubble, scoring 16.5 points per game on just under 46 percent shooting, consisting of 47 percent from three. State what you want about Melo, however Portlands offense hasnt a hard time sustaining itself– unless Lillard is simply going insane– with Melo on the floor.
Hes putting great effort in, and whether its because hes slimmed down or merely trying a bit harder, hes offering himself at least a fighting opportunity safeguarding guys off the dribble. Still, unless LeBron decides to take it simple on his banana-boat buddy, which we can securely presume he will not, Melo is going to get relentlessly hunted through switches and forced to safeguard in space.
As long as Melo is making shots, hes going to stay in the game, because at the end of the day the only chance the Blazers have of winning this series is in a shootout. Theyre going to have to intend for 120-plus points every video game and take their chances that the Lakers arent hitting shots.
Of course, the Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. As a duo, in terms of pure scoring, the Blazers back court can keep up with LeBron and Advertisement.
While LeBron is going to get anywhere he desires in this series, he Blazers do at least have some size to contend with Davis, however Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside are not going to keep up with him on the border, where hell be running a lot in both isolation and pick-and-roll with LeBron. The difference is you dont have to double LeBron 40 feet from the basket like you do Lillard. Still, unless LeBron decides to take it simple on his banana-boat friend, which we can safely presume he will not, Melo is going to get non-stop hunted via switches and required to safeguard in area.
