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 at least for stretches. Theyll almost definitely devote to taking the ball out of his hands at all costs if he gets hot. Lillard has actually reached the point where you have to send out several protectors at him the moment as he crosses half court if you do not wish to end up on the business end of a blow torch..
That opens up beneficial circumstances for the Blazers, who have the shooters to make the Lakers spend for sending out two at Lillard. The mathematics is going to leave either Carmelo Anthony, Gary Trent Jr. and obviously McCollum open for a lot of shots, and those people are all knocking them down a high clip today. Nurkic has also shown a great feel for taking short-roll passes and either getting to he basket, kicking or finishing fragile push-shots to shooters. The Blazers are a really hazardous offending group for the simple reason that Lillard is going to burn you one way or the other: Single cover him, and hell get 50; double him and open shooters make you pay..
For the Lakers its a bit different. They dont have the cumulative shooting the Blazers do. The Blazers will happily live all series long with Danny Green, Kyle Kuzma and Dion Waiters launching 3s. Its not to say they arent capable to knocking them down, however its a much better bet that they wont than letting LeBron have his way.
The difference 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 video game to get switches that offer him the benefit versus a Nurkic or Collins, or paradise forbid, Carmelo Anthony.
Of course, LeBron will not choose pull-ups. Hell use the downhill runway to get to the rim. But Nurkic, Collins and Whiteside at least have a chance protecting the rim. On the boundary, theyre cooked. This will be a series, I suspect, defined largely by the Lakers guarding Lillard pick-and-rolls aggressively and the Blazers protecting LeBron pick-and-rolls conservatively..
McCollum is playing with a fractured lower back, which sounds dreadful, but evaluating off the way McCollum played in the play-in video game vs. Memphis, hes still capable of developing one-on-one offense on a constant basis. The Lakers do not have a lot of protectors to throw at those 2, specifically without Avery Bradley.
Theres an other hand to that coin, of course, which is that Portland does not have a prayer of protecting LeBron separately. Gary Trent Jr., Mario Hezonja, Carmelo Anthony, ignore it. This is where Trevor Ariza deciding out of the bubble truly injures the Blazers– not that Ariza would strike even an ounce of worry into James, however it wouldve been an one-on-one alternative to at least make LeBron work a bit without having to collapse your defense with double groups (more in this in a bit)..
While LeBron is going to get anywhere he desires 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 running a lot in both seclusion and pick-and-roll with LeBron. Zach Collins might play a critical function here. Like LeBron with Ariza, Collins wont make Davis blink, however its a reasonable matchup to at least make him work while keeping some semblance of protective balance undamaged..
Now that the Portland Trail Blazers have actually protected the Western Conferences No. 8 seed, let the discussion shift to whether they have a sensible possibility to upset the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers in the first round. If you think they do, its mostly for one factor: They have Damian Lillard, who is currently lightning Disney World on fire. Naturally, the Lakers have LeBron James and Anthony Davis. You know, not a bad super star counter..
Listed below well get into some of the concerns and match dilemmas that figure to color this series, which I believe to be the most interesting of all the first-round series. You can also find the schedule and TV information for each game, which will continue to update with results as long as the series lasts, here..
( 1) Lakers vs. (8) Blazers.
Video game 1: Tuesday, Aug. 18, 9 p.m. ET, TNTGame 2: Thursday, Aug. 20, 9 p.m. ET, ESPNGame 3: Saturday, Aug. 22, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABCGame 4: Monday, Aug. 24, 9 p.m. ET, 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. At this point, that seems like a respectable bet. In addition to Lillard, C.J. McCollum will need to play like a star. As a duo, in terms of pure scoring, the Blazers back court can stay up to date with LeBron and advertisement.
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Response: Trail Blazers Earn Right To Play Lakers In First Round
( 3:19).
3. Carmelo dilemma.
Anthony has actually been exceptional in the bubble, scoring 16.5 points per game on just under 46 percent shooting, consisting of 47 percent from 3. Say what you desire about Melo, however Portlands offense hasnt a hard time sustaining itself– unless Lillard is simply going crazy– with Melo on the floor.
Anthonys defense is another story. Hes putting good effort in, and whether its because hes lost weight or merely attempting a bit harder, hes providing himself a minimum of a combating opportunity guarding people off the dribble. Still, unless LeBron decides to take it simple on his banana-boat friend, which we can securely presume he wont, Melo is going to get relentlessly hunted via switches and forced to protect in area. If it doesnt go well, at what point will he become a net unfavorable even with his offense?.
As long as Melo is making shots, hes going to remain in the game, due to the fact that at the end of the day the only opportunity the Blazers have of winning this series is in a shootout. Theyre not going to hold the Lakers down. Theyre going to need to go for 120-plus points every video game and take their chances that the Lakers arent hitting shots. Still, they cant just be a protective red carpet. Melo needs to be at least competitive on that end so as to not require Terry Stotts into the difficult choice of needing to decide whether to leave him on the flooring..
While LeBron is going to get anywhere he desires in this series, he Blazers do at least have some size to contend with Davis, but Jusuf Nurkic and Hassan Whiteside are not going to keep up with him on the perimeter, where hell be operating a lot in both seclusion and pick-and-roll with LeBron. The distinction is you do not have to double LeBron 40 feet from the basket like you do Lillard. Still, unless LeBron chooses to take it easy on his banana-boat buddy, which we can securely presume he will not, Melo is going to get relentlessly hunted by means of switches and required to safeguard in area.
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 AD.
