Dribbles: For Lakers, shots again go thud in Game 1 loss to Blazers

Random dribbles after the Los Angeles Lakers' 100-93 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their playoff series Tuesday in Orlando.

1. LeBron James was great, most everyone else was ... meh. That's not good news for the Lakers and something that can't become a theme.

2. James was in typical Game 1 form, recording a triple-double of 23 points, a game-high 17 rebounds and game-high 16 assists. He may be 35-years old, he may not be as utterly explosive as he once was. But this was the very definition of a magnificent performance. It's a shame his teammates let him down.

3. Anthony Davis finished with 28 points and 11 boards and it's hard to dispute those numbers. That said, Davis was just 8-of-24 shooting and was so-so at winning time. Despite the impressive stats, it wasn't one of Davis' better nights. On the bright side for the Lakers, he tends to bounce back with a vengeance.

4. Overall, the Lakers' shooting woes reared their brick-laying head yet again -- and that's been the case for most of their stay in the bubble. On Tuesday, they shot 35 percent from the field, and worse, were a miserable 5-of-32 on 3-pointers.

5. Afterward, James mentioned how the Lakers weren't much better on free throws (20-of-31). They missed 11. They lost by seven.

6. LeBron on the loss: "We had some great opportunities. We had some great looks. We just didn't knock them down. ... They made enough plays down the stretch; we didn't."

7. The Trail Blazers are the hottest team in the league and Damian Lillard has been the best player in the bubble. The Blazers played with poise down the stretch, with Lillard and C.J. McCollum burying some long-range biggies.

8. Without Avery Bradley, it's hard to envision the Lakers being able to contain Lillard when the game is close and it becomes "Dame Time" in the fourth quarters of a close game. It seems like the best the Lakers can hope for is that Lillard simply has an off night. That hasn't been happening much lately.

9. Lillard finished with a game-high 34 points, including 6-of-13 on threes. McCollum scored 21 and center Jusuf Nurkic finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Nurkic's night included an emphatic two-handed slam that sealed the deal. He blew a good-night kiss to the camera after the dunk.

10. Lillard to TNT's Jared Greenberg: "Every game we've played since we've been here has been a playoff game. So we were prepared for this."

11. That truly could be an advantage. The Blazers got here via a play-in game win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday. They are a team that's very much in rhythm.

12. Kyle Kuzma wasn't bad, scoring 14 points, but the Lakers will need him to be better. That's just the reality of this year's roster. Dion Waiters recorded just one minute of action and zeroes across the board. J.R. Smith didn't get off the bench.

13. Rajon Rondo has been medically cleared to play and could return for Game 2. He's not going to assist in the area of shooting, but perhaps his experience can help contain the Blazers guards.

14. Carmelo Anthony scored 11 points for the Blazers and did an underrated job in finishing with 10 rebounds.

15. Both No. 1 seeds went down in defeat Tuesday. I also wrote some dribbles about the Milwaukee Bucks' loss to the Orlando Magic. You can read those here.