The Portland Trail Blazers are heading into Tuesday night’s showdown with the Los Angeles Lakers as one of five unbeaten teams left in the Western Conference, and the challenge waiting for them is a big one. The Lakers arrive with the NBA’s top scoring offense at 128.0 points per game, while Portland sits right behind them at 126.0.
At the center of it all is Luka Doncic, who has opened the season on a tear. The Lakers star leads the league at 34.3 points per game and is adding 7.3 rebounds and 8.0 assists through the early going. That puts the spotlight squarely on Micah Nori, who has to sort out a defensive plan capable of at least making life difficult for one of the league’s most dangerous engines.
Portland’s offense has been powered by Damian Lillard and Ja Morant, and the two guards have given the team a real burst. Lillard is leading the Blazers with 22.0 points per game over the first two contests, while Morant tops the roster with 15 total assists. But as helpful as that backcourt duo has been on offense, the other end of the floor is where the problem starts to show against a bigger guard like Doncic.
The numbers from Doncic’s history against both guards underline the issue. In 11 career games against Morant, Doncic has averaged 29.4 points and 7.4 assists.
Against Lillard, those figures rise to 31.8 points and 7.6 assists across 17 career meetings. That makes it unlikely either Blazers guard takes the primary assignment, leaving Portland to lean on its defensive depth and interior strength to hold up.
That’s where Toumani Camara comes in. Nori will almost certainly mix in double teams, but Camara stands out as the best individual option to start the possession against Doncic on the perimeter. The former All-Defensive selection in 2024-25 brings the kind of length, motor and physical tools Portland needs for a matchup like this.
Camara’s defensive résumé is strong enough to back that up. He finished each of the last two seasons with at least 2.6 defensive win shares, and he ranks fourth in the NBA in win shares per 48 minutes so far this season at .358. That combination makes him Portland’s most natural fit for the job on Tuesday.
He’s also giving the Blazers more than just defense right now. Camara is in the middle of an offensive jump, posting career bests in scoring and efficiency. Through two games, he’s averaging 18.5 points while shooting 61.9 percent from the field and 52.9 percent from beyond the arc.
If Camara ends up spending time on Doncic at both ends, Portland could be able to squeeze extra value out of him in a game that figures to be played at a high offensive level. The Blazers should have a little more riding on his presence Tuesday night.
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Morant took issue with his own call afterward, saying he had simply raised his hands and absorbed contact, and he planned to try to get it overturned. Portland left with the win and moved to 3-0, while the Lakers dropped to 3-1, a result that will leave plenty of attention on the sequence rather than just the final score. [Read more 🡒]