The Los Angeles Lakers suffered their second loss in a row after collapsing against the Portland Trail Blazers. The purple and gold were down 22 points after the first quarter. Before the final period, the gap between the two teams was 31 points. In the end, the Lakers narrowed the gap to 15 points, but it was not enough.
Five Lakers players finished the game with double-digit scoring, all of them came off the bench. The second top scorer for the losers was Carmelo Anthony, who had 12 points in 27 minutes of play.
“I think for the most part tonight we didn’t play basketball,” Melo said after the game. “We didn’t just go out there and compete. We didn’t play hard. We only played in spurts. Those guys came out hitting on all cylinders, especially in the first half getting that big lead.
“It’s going to be like that. This is part of the game,” Anthony said about Lakers missing LeBron James and Anthony Davis playing limited minutes due to injuries. “We don’t know who’s going to be in there We can’t control injuries, we can’t control what guys are going through physically. It is next man up. It sounds cliche but it is what it is. We still got to go out there and compete.”
Game highlights:
