Lakers shooting woes continue as they lose to the Blazers

Clutch time execution
There’s no way around this the Lakers lost the game in the clutch. Up 8 points with less than 5 minutes to go the lakers seemed very much in control of the game and were going to come away with their first win of the season. The Trailblazers closed out the game on a 16 to 6 run. The Blazers led by superstar Damian Lillard hit some tough shots down the stretch to help them come away with the win but the game should have never been in a position for them to do so. The Lakers only have themselves to blame for taking multiple bad shots to end the game.

With less than 90 seconds left in the fourth is when things started to unravel. Patrick Beverly was forced into a tough, contested 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down. Then with 52 seconds left Lebron James took a tough sidestep 3 which missed, leading Anfernee Simons to go down the other end to make it a one-point game. Finally with 27 seconds left, the Lakers up 1, could manage the clock Russell Westbrook took a pull-up Mid-range which missed. Westbrook, postgame said his intention for taking the shot was so the Lakers had a 2-for-1 opportunity.

Darvin Ham didn’t seem to disagree with the intention of Westbrook going for a 2 for 1 but said he would rather Westbrook attack the rim with Nurkic on 5 fouls. The loss doesn’t fall on one player particularly but on a number of issues, which L.A has to address.

3-Point Shooting

Again the Lakers shot woefully from 3 for the third game in a row. They shot 6/33 (18.2%) which just isn’t going to work. They have now plummeted to the worst 3-point shooting team in the league at 21.2%. The Lakers desperately need to find some sort of shooting whether that’s through trade or someone on the open market. They need to acquire some level of shooting.

Anthony Davis’ Monster Performance

On a more positive note, Anthony Davis was sensational yesterday. It seemed like he was everywhere, especially on the defensive end where he had 6 blocks and 2 steals. He’s truly reminding everyone what a dominant player he is on both ends of the floor. He took over the third quarter. He had 10 points along with 4 rebounds and a block. Also having a monster tip – dunk which inspired the Lakers to win the third quarter 35 to 23. AD has been dominant on both ends so far this season, let’s hope it can continue.

The Lakers continue their season against the Nuggets on Wednesday and will go up against the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and will look to win their first game of the season to avoid

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