Luka Doncic poured in 41 points Tuesday night and still walked off with a loss, because the Portland Trail Blazers had too many answers and too many weapons.
At Crypto.com Arena, Portland knocked off the Lakers 136-129 to hand Los Angeles its first defeat of the season and keep its own perfect start alive. The Lakers got another huge night from Doncic, but the Trail Blazers did their damage the hard way - by spreading the scoring around and making the late plays that mattered most.
Doncic followed his 52-point outing against the Utah Jazz with 41 points and nine assists against Portland. He hit six 3-pointers and kept dragging the Lakers back into the fight, possession after possession.
Austin Reaves added 26 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili chipped in 17, but Los Angeles never found enough support to match Portland’s balance. The Trail Blazers had four players score at least 21, and that depth became the difference when the game tightened late.
Ja Morant led Portland with 23 points, while Deni Avdija also finished with 23. Jrue Holiday added 22 and Damian Lillard posted 21, giving the Blazers a steady stream of scoring options all night long. That quartet accounted for 89 points, or 65.4% of Portland’s offense, in a win that showed exactly why the Blazers are off to such a strong start.
The fourth quarter turned into the kind of finish veteran teams tend to own. Portland had built an eight-point lead early in the period before Doncic came back in and helped spark another Lakers push. Lillard and Avdija answered with big 3-pointers, but Los Angeles kept coming.
Then Morant took over for a brief, decisive stretch. He buried consecutive midrange jumpers to put Portland up five, and Lillard delivered the final dagger with a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left. Portland finished on a 15-8 run, and Lillard’s four made 3s once again reminded everyone he can still close.
The victory pushed Portland to 3-0 under head coach Micah Nori. According to the Associated Press, it is only the franchise’s second 3-0 start in the last 15 years.
For a team built around a mix of established names, that matters. Morant brings the burst, Lillard brings the shot-making, Holiday brings the steady veteran edge, and Avdija’s 23 points showed the Blazers aren’t dependent on just one star doing all the lifting.
Los Angeles dropped to 3-1 despite Doncic’s brilliance. The Lakers play the Clippers on Wednesday, and Portland hosts Memphis on Thursday. One night in October won’t define either season, but Tuesday was a clear snapshot: the Lakers had the best scorer, and the Blazers had the better answers when the game got tight.
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The Trail Blazers did more than survive a shootout with the Lakers, they won the physical side of it. Portland's 136-129 victory came even with Luka Doncic pouring in 41 points and Austin Reaves adding 26, because the Blazers kept answering at the other end and repeatedly turned the game into a test of shot-making, effort and presence on the glass.
What stood out for Portland was not just the scoring, but the way it controlled the margins that usually decide games like this. The Blazers shot better, got to the line more often and won the rebounding battle, a combination that let them absorb the Lakers' firepower and still finish on top in a game that was never short on offense. [Read more 🡒]
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Miami is now living with the realities of that kind of move after landing Giannis, and the opening stretch has not exactly looked like the instant contender blueprint the Heat hoped for. A poor start has already raised questions about how quickly the roster can support a title push, which only adds another layer to Portlands what-if. The Blazers may not have landed the biggest name in the conversation, but they also avoided the immediate pressure that comes with trying to make a championship timeline work from day one. [Read more 🡒]