Blazers Star Trio Silences Biggest Doubt Against Lakers

When you’re still in the first week of a brand-new NBA season, it isn’t exactly likely for a team to experience its season-defining moment.

Yet, for the Portland Trail Blazers, after an all-time regular-season win against Luka Dončić and the Los Angeles Lakers, they may have just had theirs.

With just one minute left to play in a tightly contested, back-and-forth slugfest, the Blazers needed a dagger to close out the game on the road.

NBC's play-by-play commentator Reggie Miller asked a question that had surrounded this Portland team dating back to before training camp.

"Who do you go with?," Miller asked to the spectators at home.

Since Ja Morant landed in Portland and joined the offensive engine room of Damian Lillard and Deni Avdija, the question of who would have the ball to close out games has been on the minds of many.

Morant has been the man throughout his entire career and, up until that moment, was having his best game as a Trail Blazer. Avdija was Portland’s go-to guy during his breakout season last year, and when Lillard is wearing a Portland jersey, you just feel like the ball has to be in his hands.

The play that ensued was almost fairy-tale-esque.

Avdija found Lillard for a three-pointer that could send chills down your spine. The crowd popped so loud you would think the game was at the Moda center. The two embraced in celebration while Morant hit Lillard’s patented celebration.

What seemed to many like an ego-driven problem that would plague the team in clutch moments instead proved to be the Blazers greatest weapon in securing the win and sending a message to the league.

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Portland Trail Blazers guard Ja Morant reacts against the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half at Crypto.com Arena. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In a recent discussion among the Blazers On SI staff, we were asked what worried us most about this Portland squad.

My answer was quite simple. I was worried that egos could get in the way of success, and it’s easy to be unselfish when things are going well.

Morant himself addressed that exact concern after Portland’s win over Sacramento, telling reporters that the team’s success would ultimately depend on how they handle being selfless.

“If we all are unselfish, ego-free and just want the best way … there shouldn’t be no problems.” Morant said.

In the first two games of the season, Portland hadn’t really faced many challenges. The Kings may have put up a good fight, but there was never a moment when you felt either game was overly difficult.

Yet at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the Blazers faced more adversity than they could have imagined.

Stars in foul trouble. Countless missed free throws. And a crowd that seemed to get louder every time No. 77 in purple touched the ball on his way to 41 points.

It was Portland’s toughest test of the season so far, and quite possibly its toughest for the foreseeable future.

It’s in games and moments like these that an NBA team would typically look to its ‘guy’ to save the day. Oklahoma City would turn to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, while the Knicks would put the ball in Jalen Brunson’s hands and ask him to make a play.

What Portland exemplified against the Lakers instead was exactly what Joe Cronin envisioned when he assembled the trio: the unpredictability of never knowing where the next punch is coming from.

Down the stretch of a tightly contested game, Lillard, Avdija and Morant combined to score Portland’s final 14 points, including two Lillard three-pointers assisted by Avdija.

Striking that delicate balance between taking over a game and remaining completely unselfish might seem unachievable to some. But for Micah Nori, it’s exactly what he expects from this group.

“They both want to win,” Nori said postgame, referring to Morant and Lillard. “They’re both playing selfless…I think that's the reason it's working.”

It’s only three games into a long 82-game season, and there will undoubtedly be nights when the frustrations grow and the Blazers find themselves in difficult moments.

But against the Lakers, Portland proved that when the team needs someone to step up, having three players capable of doing so isn't a burden but, in fact, a blessing in its own.

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