Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers Scorch Lakers from three, LeBron James Misses Another Game

The Lakers entered Portland on a small winning streak, but more importantly, fresh off a strong road win against the Warriors, despite LeBron James being shelved with a persistent foot/ankle issue. This game against the Trail Blazers also featured no King, but their opponents were missing Jerami Grant and Jusef Nurkic, and the Lakers' collective confidence seemed high enough to make a night of it in a tough environment.

Until Damian Lillard went absolutely bonkers from behind the arc, and pretty much all of his teammates followed suit.

The Blazers hit 17 threes in the first half, with everyone from Dame (EIGHT, including a few from practically outside the building) to Matisse freaking Thybulle getting in on the action. Conversely, the Lakers hit just three in the opening 24 minutes, creating a 42 point swing on shots from distance. That is a massive discrepancy to battle from the outset, and despite actually turning it on themselves in the second half, the Lakers were in no position to make a serious comeback. Anthony Davis had 19 points and 20 rebounds, Malik Beasley rediscovered the three-point shot absent in his Lakers debut Saturday, and D'Angelo Russell had another solid night, but it was all too little, and given how few games are left, too late. Only 24 remaining to make a serious push.

Seriously, when will LeBron come back.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Portland buries the Lakers from behind the arc.

SEGMENT 2: More thoughts on the loss and what went wrong.

SEGMENT 3: This is definitely a better roster than before the deadline, but getting everyone on the same page is still no easy task, especially without LeBron to organize matters.

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