The Los Angeles Lakers fell 132-116 to the Portland Trail Blazers Saturday at Moda Center, with LeBron James emphasizing resilience despite injuries and tough matchups.
“Go out with the unit that’s available, try to execute offensively and defensively as well as you can and it’s all you can ask for,” James said, highlighting the challenge of playing without Luka Doncic and Deandre Ayton.
James noted both offensive and defensive efforts. “I thought offensively we were pretty good. I thought defensively we had some keys that we wanted to do. We wanted to press up on them but also keep guys in front of us, make them shoot contested twos, make them shoot contested threes off the dribble and they nailed a lot of them.”
He also addressed the first-quarter free throw disparity. “The whistle was very short in the first quarter…22 for them. It’s hard to set your defense with that type of situation, but gave ourselves a chance a couple times, but it was an uphill battle.”
James stressed the importance of consistent competitiveness. “I mean, you have to because at the end of the day, there’s nobody feeling sorry for us…we got us available. We got to go out there and play our game.”
On the team’s approach to scrapping out wins, he added, “Score more points than our opponent…made more shots than our opponent in a world where we see a lot of young guys trying to be like Steph. That’s the game of basketball.”
James also praised young Trail Blazers talent. “Deni Avdija is having a hell of a season…should be an all-star, obviously his health is most important right now. Hopefully he’s not out too long, but he’s playing great basketball.”
He acknowledged the significance of contributions from bench players like Drew Timme. “A night like Timme had, career-high 21 points, can help, give him confidence, give him something to reference as the season goes on.”
Despite James’ 20 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists, the Lakers struggled to keep pace as Portland built a 14-point halftime lead and extended it to 24 late in the fourth. Shaedon Sharpe led the Blazers with 25 points, while Jerami Grant and Caleb Love added 22 each.
The Lakers fell to 24-15, facing another challenging stretch of games, while Portland improved to 20-22, winning seven of their last nine. The Trail Blazers visit Atlanta Monday, and Los Angeles hosts Toronto Sunday.
