This was one of those, good to be a Laker fan wins. It’s been a long time since we dominated like this tonight.
Game time today was held at EST and apparently not Dame Time. Hopefully next game he can't wind the clocks back.
Double teaming the high screen & roll was a brilliant Defensive adjustment. AD was unstoppable. He should be able to dominate this series. Portland has bigs, but they are no match for AD's speed & versatility away from the basket.
It's not that I fear Portland, I fear the Lakers playing badly. This second game helps to alleviate that but they have basically played very poorly in the bubble. I was beginning to think that losing Avery and bringing in 3 new faces jolted our chemistry and that we may not have enough time to work it out. That is what I worry about and fear, it is NOT what I logically think. But I have been a hard core Lakers fan since Jerry West was a rookie and I have seen more than simply Showtime and the Kobe era. I saw us lose every year as the runner up for years. Losing to teams that we should have won. It scars me a bit. In the playoffs, ever series is a battle and we have not yet seen this team go through tough battles over 7 games and assert their will. I think they can, I think they will, but it makes me nervous. Ask Jerry West about it.
I fear the Rondo coming back and taking the obligatory minutes from others who should be getting them. And the 4, 5and 6 shots taken behind the arc because he’s being dared to shoot them and the mustard off the hot dog passes for turnovers. That said.... hoping there is something left of this “Playoff Rondo” mythology from a couple years ago.
The Lakers have a famously weak analytics department, so I fully expect Rondo to get all of Caruso's minutes.
I still think Dame will have one heroic game in this series where he breaks out and beats us in a tight win for the Blazers. So I think it will take 6 but I no longer fear it going 7 after last night's game. The big issue for me was AD and his assertiveness and desire. Now that I've seen him correct the ship I don't see them stopping him or us. However . . . that said . . . there is the chance that he falls back into passive mode so let's just see. I believe we're starting to see the toll on the Blazers though. No Collins for the rest of the season, no Ariza, no Hood, broken McCullum and now slightly broken Lillard. If we bully ball them and impose our will I no longer think there is any way they will upset us.
Collins being out for the Season helps. He's not a scorer or core guy, but probably one of their top 2 Defensive options on AD.
