Los Angeles @ Portland preview
Moda Center
Last Meeting ( Feb 2, 2022 ) Portland 94, L.A. Lakers 99
Now that Anthony Davis and LeBron James are back on the floor together, the Los Angeles Lakers could use a kick-start from their dynamic duo.
The Lakers will visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday after losing five of their last seven games. The game comes against a Trail Blazers team in the midst of a rebuild as CJ McCollum was traded Tuesday, four days after Norman Powell and Robert Covington were dealt.
Both teams played Tuesday, with the host Lakers falling 131-116 to the Milwaukee Bucks and the Trail Blazers also losing at home, 113-95 against the Orlando Magic.
James and Anthony finally played in consecutive games together on Tuesday, the first time that has happened since Dec. 17. Davis has played seven games since missing 17 with a knee injury, and James is two games into his return from his own knee issue that cost him five contests.
The Lakers' rough seven-game stretch started Jan. 27, when James' string of absences began in a 105-87 defeat at Philadelphia.
James had 27 points against the Bucks on Tuesday, while Davis had 22. Russell Westbrook, who has not delivered as the Lakers had hoped when they traded for him over the summer, had 10 points with 10 rebounds.
Westbrook has averaged 18.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists, but his play has been erratic, and his shooting touch has been brutal at times. He entered Tuesday on an 11-of-40 shooting slide and went 3 of 11 against the Bucks.
"We're all in the foxhole together," James said. "There is not one guy who is doing it by (himself). There's not one guy you can blame over another guy. There's not one guy who gets the praise over another guy. When we lose, we all lose. When we win, we all win. It's really that simple."
The Trail Blazers are in transition mode during a disappointing season under new coach Chauncey Billups. Portland first endured a seven-game losing streak in December, mostly without an injured Damian Lillard.
Then trouble really emerged at the end of December, when Lillard was out with an abdominal injury that required surgery. The roster restructuring ended McCollum's nine-year tenure in the Pacific Northwest.
"Not only us as a team but shoot, this whole community and city is going to miss CJ," Billups said. "He has been a huge part of what has gone on here and the success that this team has had for a long time."
Said Lillard: "We both knew that this point would be coming, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I think that's where I am now."
Portland enters Wednesday's game on a six-game losing streak and has dropped eight of its last nine. Anfernee Simons had 19 points for the Trail Blazers in Tuesday's defeat, including a free throw that got Portland within five points with just over six minutes remaining before the Magic put the game away.
Justise Winslow, acquired from the Clippers on Friday, played in his second game (making his first start) with Trail Blazers and scored 12 points. Keon Johnson and Eric Bledsoe, also acquired from the Clippers, have yet to make their Portland debuts.
--Field Level Media