Lakers at Trail Blazers
There had to come a point where LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers management got tired of waiting for the wins to come, and it appears that time is now. James and the Lakers will try to put together back-to-back victories for the second time this season when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.
Los Angeles avoided a three-game slide with a 114-113 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, before reports began to surface that team president Magic Johnson admonished coach Luke Walton following a winless two-game road trip on Tuesday. "What we discuss in our meetings is between us, but ... we have been saying since the beginning, we're going to be patient," Walton told reporters. "We know where we're going, we know how to get there, and it takes time and it takes hard work. Right now, our guys work extremely hard. We've had a couple setbacks with some suspensions, but we've played some good teams and we've had a chance to win a lot of those games." The Lakers will need to find a way to defend the 3-point line against the Trail Blazers, who are winners of three in a row and went 18-of-35 from beyond the arc in Thursday's 132-119 win over New Orleans. "We shot 50 percent from three or over 50 percent from three and I think a lot of that has to do with the quality of looks that we got," star point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. "Even I got a few really good looks from three and I feel like my shots always come off the dribble and contested."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBCS Northwest (Portland), Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE LAKERS (3-5): Los Angeles nearly squandered an 18-point lead in Wednesday's win, and James was pleased that the team went through the learning experience. "I'm extremely happy we’re going through this," James told reporters. "You can talk about it, you can preach about it, you can watch film about it, but the best teacher in life is experience. These guys are getting this experience of playing these tight close games and then tonight we were on the other side of it. We lost a couple, same situation against San Antonio we lost. ... It's great to learn from." James is averaging 27.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, eight assists and 2.1 steals.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (6-2): Portland gives its whole team the green light to shoot from beyond the arc, and big men Zach Collins, Jusuf Nurkic and Caleb Swanigan combined to go 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in Thursday's win. "Guys who practice threes, if you’re open, it’s a good three," Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts told reporters. "Caleb (Swanigan) practices them, Zach (Collins) practices them, (Nurkic) practices them, so if they’re open and uncontested, it’s a good shot. ... I don’t think they’re out there searching, I thought it was within the rhythm of the game." Lillard knocked down 4-of-7 from beyond the arc in the win and is averaging 29.1 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Los Angeles SF Michael Beasley (personal) missed the last two games and is questionable for Saturday.
2. Trail Blazers SF Maurice Harkless (knee) missed the last three games and is day-to-day.
3. Portland is enjoying a 16-game winning streak in the series.