Memorandum
- From
- Derek Weston
- Date
- Filed
- Sports·2 min to read
- Re
Morant and Lillard lead unbeaten Trail Blazers past Lakers 136-129
ReMorant and Lillard lead unbeaten Trail Blazers past Lakers 136-129
Ja Morant and Damian Lillard powered Portland past Los Angeles despite 41 points from Luka Doncic, keeping the Trail Blazers unbeaten.
Ja Morant and Deni Avdija each scored 23 points, Damian Lillard added 21 and hit a clutch 3-pointer with 43 seconds left, and the Portland Trail Blazers held on for a 136-129 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday night. The victory kept Portland unbeaten early in the season, even though Luka Doncic posted 41 points and nine assists for the Lakers.
The game came down to the closing minutes in Los Angeles. Doncic kept Los Angeles within reach with a heavy scoring load, but Lillard's three-pointer late in the game gave Portland the cushion it needed to close out the result. The seven-point final margin reflected a contest in which both sides traded baskets for most of the night, and the outcome was decided by a single late possession rather than a runaway lead.
Morant and Avdija supplied the balanced scoring that carried the Trail Blazers through the game, while Lillard's veteran shot-making finished it. Portland's start has made it one of the few unbeaten teams in the league, and a road win over a Western Conference rival of this profile is the kind of result early-season contenders are judged on.
For the Lakers, the loss came despite a standout performance from Doncic, whose 41 points and nine assists were the central statistical story of the box score. Los Angeles now drops a game in a matchup many observers had marked as an early test of both teams' form, and the defeat leaves the Lakers facing questions about how to contain Portland's late-game execution.
Coverage from ESPN, and KATU framed the contest as an early-season battle between two unbeaten teams, with each outlet pointing to Portland's closing execution as the decisive factor. 's game recap, distributed as video, is one of the official records of the result, and KATU described the matchup as an early-season battle of unbeatens in Los Angeles.
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