Wei Shao is out of the squad due to injury
The Los Angeles Lakers had a bad night facing defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, who had no ability to fight back, and Russell Westbrook, who was once again discarded by Vogel in the final quarter. The trade deadline is approaching, and the Los Angeles Lakers will face the Portland Trail Blazers, which is the last game for the Lakers before the trade deadline, and may also determine the next path for many players on this team. In this game, Westbrook was absent due to injury, and for the first time in the season, this may be a special signal.
The Blazers essentially decided to rebuild, sending Powell and Covington away, and even the team's second-in-command, CJ McCollum, was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. In the case of Lillard's inability to play, the combat effectiveness of this team can be imagined. So this game, for the Los Angeles Lakers, is undoubtedly a good opportunity.
James struggled to hold on
Without Russell-Westbrook, the Lakers are still in terrible shape, with James scoring eight points at the opening 11 points, assisting Ariza to hit a three-pointer and getting eight points, two rebounds and one assist. After playing 8 minutes, James went off the field to rest, Tucker Jr. came up and made a mistake, but then Stanley Johnson shot a three-pointer, the two teams were glued, and after playing for two minutes, the Lakers' offense did not improve at all, and Vogel had to replace James again.
Stanley Johnson made two free throws to help the Lakers tie the score, Winslow grabbed the rebound in the front court, pressed the whistle to score two points, and at the end of the first quarter, the Lakers trailed the Trail Blazers by two points 18-20. After returning from the second quarter, Ellington and Tucker and Reeves hit three-pointers in succession, and James also played 2+1 against the sky, and the Lakers once took a seven-point lead. After James went off, the Lakers' lead was constantly eroded. Tucker made a layup at a crucial moment, made two three-pointers, and scored eight consecutive points to stabilize the situation.
Nurkic scored five straight points, Bradley hit a three-pointer, mcLemore hit the Trail Blazers' first three-pointer of the game, but James responded with three points. At the end of the half, the Los Angeles Lakers led the Trail Blazers by seven points at 54-47.
It rained three minutes on the Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers rained three-pointers in the first half, shooting only 54 points from 11 of 20 from three-point range, just seven points ahead of their opponents, while the Blazers only shot 1 of 13 from three-point range. That is to say, the Lakers won 10 three-pointers in the first half, but still did not open the point difference, without this excellent three-point feeling, this Lakers may already be a backward side. LeBron James shot 6-of-8 and had 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and his personal performance was still outstanding, Tucker Jr. also had 11 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, but Thick Brow only had 5 points and 5 rebounds.
For comparison, the Blazers' starting center, Nurkic, had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist in the first half, shooting 1-of-7 from the field. The last game could not play the letter brother, the fans may still understand, and now it has been completely exploded by Nurkic, such a result, I am afraid that no one can accept. As the core player of the Lakers and the best helper around James, Davis needs to come up with a better performance, only in this way can he help the Lakers win this game.
Finally, by the way, Wei Shao does not play, and the Lakers' performance is not much better, so the problem of this team, Wei Shao is responsible, but not all responsible.