LOS ANGELES — It took a little longer than conventional wisdom suggested, but the Portland Trail Blazers eventually ran away from the shorthanded Los Angeles Lakers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
The Blazers used a dominant second half and leaned on their superior depth — and health — to breeze past the Lakers 122-108 before a sellout crowd of 17,927, earning their first road win of the season.
After a grimy, helter-skelter first half heavy on bricks and fouls, the Blazers started to take control in the third quarter, then pulled away in the fourth. It resembled the beatdown the Blazers (2-2) handed the Warriors last week, except this time it had more to do with injuries and absences than age.
The Lakers (2-2) played without seven injured players, including All-Stars Luka Dončić and LeBron James, so it was only a matter of time before the younger, faster, healthier Blazers pulled away.
Interim coach Tiago Splitter enticed his team at halftime against the Warriors, saying if they played faster and gave more after the break, he’d let them skip a practice and shootaround. But when asked Monday if he planned to lean on his team’s relentless full-court pressure even more against an opponent playing without multiple ball-handlers, he balked.
“This is going to be us the whole season,” Splitter said. “It’s not just like a one-night thing. We have to do that. That’s our identity and we’re not going to move from that.”
And sure enough, the Blazers flustered and harassed the Lakers all night, snatching 19 steals that they turned into 30 points.
Portland forced two eight-second violations, guarded baseline to baseline, hounded Los Angeles ball-handlers and generally caused chaos. It wasn’t a perfect night — Shaedon Sharpe (6 for 16, 0 for 6 from three-point range) had another frigid shooting night and the Blazers coughed up 25 turnovers of their own — but it was enough against a team that resembled a MASH unit.
TOP PERFORMERS
Deni Avdija surpassed the 20-point mark for the fourth time in four games, finishing with 25 points, four rebounds and four assists. Jerami Grant (22 points) continued his strong start to the season, Donovan Clingan recorded a double-double (16 points, 14 rebounds) and Jrue Holiday (24 points, six assists, five rebounds) had another solid all-around outing for the Blazers.
One night after scoring a career-high 51 points, Austin Reaves had another prolific performance for the Lakers, finishing with 41 points on 13-for-22 shooting. And former Blazers center DeAndre Ayton battled foul trouble to record 16 points and eight rebounds.
THYBULLE SIDELINED WITH INJURY
The Blazers played without one of their most disruptive defenders Monday, as Matisse Thybulle was sidelined with right hip soreness.
The backup wing missed all but the final 15 games last season because of right knee soreness and a badly sprained ankle, then skipped most of training camp, easing back into basketball shape. But he debuted opening night and has been a mainstay in the rotation through three games, providing scoring (5.7 points), relentless defense (2.7 steals) and shooting (60% from three-point range) in an average of 14.7 minutes.
It’s unclear if Thybulle tweaked his hip in the Blazers’ Sunday loss at the Los Angeles Clippers, but he showed up on the Monday afternoon injury report and was ruled out before he arrived at Crypto.com Arena.
“He felt some tightness and was not ready to go,” Blazers interim coach Tiago Splitter said.
WILLIAMS ASSIGNED TO REMIX
The Blazers on Monday assigned Robert Williams III to the Rip City Remix in a move designed to give the veteran center extra practice time as he inches closer to gaining clearance for game action. Williams increased his on-court basketball activity late in training camp and appears to be nearing a full return.
“Once we have him, it’s going to change a lot of things,” Splitter said. “He’s a dynamic roller (on offense), and on defense, he’s capable to being (in) coverage or (to) switch. But the main thing now is get him in shape and ready to go. I think he’s almost there and it’s great that he’s going to be with the Remix and get some minutes and up-and-downs with them.
NEXT UP
The Blazers finish their three-game trip Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
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