D’Angelo Russell & Rui Hachimura Catch Fire Against Trail Blazers

The Los Angeles Lakers returned home after an unsuccessful four-game road trip where they lost three straight and looked like a mess on both sides of the floor.

The Lakers looked like a team that desperately needed to come back home, and they got the perfect bounce back spot as they hosted the Portland Trail Blazers. Los Angeles came into the matchup shorthanded as LeBron James and Austin Reaves were ruled out, but it still didn’t affect the team as they ran away with a 107-98 victory to snap their losing streak.

Without James, D’Angelo Russell stepped up as the team’s primary facilitator. Russell looked to move the basketball and get his teammates involved, and he did just that as the Lakers were able to get quality looks most times down the floor.

However, Russell also knew when the team needed him to score and he caught fire at the end of the third quarter going into the fourth. Russell had it going from distance, knocking down difficult 3-point attempts to blow the game open and force Portland to surrender early.

Russell was the second-leading scorer for Los Angeles, dropping 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field including 5-of-10 from distance. He was also the game’s leading assist man as he had 14 helpers, almost as many as the Blazers had as a team.

Rui Hachimura also did his part to make up for James’ absence as he was aggressive looking for his shot. Portland’s smaller front court struggled with Hachimura’s size and physicality, though he also made them pay for leaving him open from beyond the arc.

Like Russell, Hachimura was an efficient scorer as he scored 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting. However, he was also effective as a defender as he came up with four steals to go along with five rebounds, two assists and one block.

Anthony Davis predictably had a strong showing against the Trail Blazers because they have no one who can guard him one-on-one. Davis abused the Portland front court from just about everywhere on the floor, including from the perimeter.

Davis led Los Angeles in scoring with 30 points, but he also had 11 rebounds, five blocks and two steals. He was also perfect from the free throw line, hitting all nine of his attempts.

What’s next for Lakers

The Lakers will get several days of rest before they head back on the road to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday.