Injuries nearly swallowed the Lakers whole Monday night, leaving them short on ballhandlers, key role players and star power.
They were down seven players and they were playing on back-to-back nights to top it off, leaving the task daunting for the Lakers.
Still, the Lakers had to press on against the odds, which they were unable to overcome in falling 122-108 to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.
Austin Reaves did his best to keep the Lakers in the game, scoring 41 points one night after scoring a career-high 51 at Sacramento. Reaves now has scored 143 points in the first four games this season, tying him with Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor (1962) for the most points in Lakers’ history over that span to start the season.
Rui Hachimura (16 points) and Deandre Ayton (16 points, eight rebounds) tried to help out.
But with guard Luka Doncic (left finger sprain, lower left leg contusion) and LeBron James (right sciatica) out, it was going to be tough for the Lakers. Then with guards Marcus Smart (right quad contusion) and Gabe Vincent (left ankle sprain) down, it meant the Lakers were in deeper trouble without much of their backcourt. Add Maxi Kleber (abdominal muscle strain), Jaxson Hayes (right patellar tendinopathy) and Adou Thiero (left knee surgery recovery) sitting the bench in street clothes, and it was too much for the Lakers to deal with.
The Lakers have two more games this week, at Minnesota on Wednesday night and at Memphis on Friday, meaning L.A. will have played four games this week while not being whole.
Along with Reaves and Ayton, the Lakers started Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura and Jake LaRavia.
The Lakers’ bench consisted of Dalton Knecht, Bronny James, Chris Manon and Christian Koloko, the last two of whom are on two-way contracts — leaving them with nine available players.
“I don’t expect anybody to do more than they’re doing,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “What we challenged the guys on before the game was playing with an edge. And that’s a habit that I think takes time to form. We saw glimpses of it throughout the preseason. You’re just kind of waiting on it. You hope you get it opening night. And then you finally start seeing it when we’re in Game 2 against Minnesota. And I thought the guys throughout the game yesterday [in Sacramento] just had a terrific competitive edge. That’s what we need. And that’s regardless if we have a full roster or … how many guys are out? Six? Seven? Seven. Seven guys out. Yeah, we gotta do it.”
Taking care of the basketball was one of the problems the Lakers had. Then again that wasn’t a total surprise, considering the Lakers really had just one ballhander in Reaves and he was harassed all night by Portland.
The Lakers turned the ball over 25 times, leading to 28 points for the Trail Blazers.
The Lakers didn’t do it from the three-point line in the first half, missing 11 of their 12 attempts. They finished the game going seven for 27 from the three-point line.