The Lakers Will Play The Portland Trail Blazers In The First Round Of The Playoffs
The Lakers have said there's benefits to playing a dangerous team in the first round of the playoffs.
Now they'll see if they're going to regret those words.
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA's first-ever play-in game for the eighth seed on Saturday, 126-122, setting up a first-round matchup between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers.
Damian Lillard had 31 points and CJ McCollum added 29 points. Carmelo Anthony, who finished with 21 points, had five points in the final 21 seconds to seal the win for the Trail Blazers.
This much is for sure.
The Trail Blazers are rolling.
While the Lakers have been sputtering.
Lillard was unanimously voted the MVP for the seeding games at Walt Disney World on Saturday after averaging 37.6 points and 9.6 assists over eight games for the Trail Blazers, who went 6-2. He scored 51, 61 and 42 points over the team's final three contents before the play-in tournament.
The Lakers, meanwhile, have struggled offensively since arriving in Florida. Their field goal percentage dipped from 49 percent to 43.8 percent. Their three-point percentage fell from 36 percent to 30.3 percent. And their points per game dipped from 114.3 to 106.4 as they only won three of their eight games.
Lillard said the Trail Blazers have a lot of respect for the Lakers -- but they also believe they can win the series.
"They’re the number one seed in the West for a reason," Lillard told reporters Saturday. "They've got the best player in the world on their team. But at the same time, we didn't fight as hard as we fought in the bubble to just say, all right, we're the eighth seed and go out here and get beat up on. We feel like we have a chance in a series against anybody in this league. We feel like we have a chance in this series. And that's how we're going to approach it."
Lakers coach Frank Vogel said he's not too worried about the Lakers' play as of late.
After all, the Lakers, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for the first time since 2010 on Aug. 3, didn't have much of a sense of urgency in the bubble.
That was a double-edged sword of sorts.
"Whether it was these seeding games or the end of an 82-game regular season, if you have seeding locked up for a stretch of time, there’s benefits and drawbacks from that," Vogel said. "Certainly, we saw some benefits from the standpoint of being able to manage rest appropriately, as well as look at extended minutes for some other guys. But with that comes the lack of intensity of a big, important game for a stretch of time. But it’s not something that those guys haven’t been through before. It’s not something I haven’t been through before. And we’re ready to tighten the screws."
Both LeBron James and Anthony Davis had strong performances inside of the bubble, they just didn't have many at the same time.
Vogel said he has faith that will change.
"You need your best players to play well," Vogel said "I’ve got the utmost confidence that those guys are going to rise to the occasion in these playoffs."
The Lakers watched Saturday's play-in game together after practicing earlier in the afternoon.
Vogel said Saturday already felt different than the last month.
He saw the change in his players he was hoping for.
"The seriousness, the focus, just tightening up some of our habits and discipline was there today in film and in practice," Vogel said.
