Damian Lillard steps back and drills the three with .7 left on the clock
Dame Dolla went full clutch mode Thursday night, dancing with defender Brandon Ingram as the clock ran down and unleashing a nasty step back three point dagger in his face to put the Portland Trailblazers up three with .7 seconds remaining. The first half was all Blazers, but for the viewers who stayed tuned into the second half, the game was tighter than a sweater after thanksgiving Dinner.
Behind 32 points and a game winner from their two time Allstar, Portland came out of the trenches with a 113-110 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Lillard closed the game in style, but key contributions from the crafty C.J McCollum and bruising Jusuf Nurkic made it possible for the Trailblazers to stay in the game despite relinquishing an 18 point lead.
On the other end of the floor, the Lakers persevered through an impotent outing by rookie point guard Lonzo Ball and the loss of their starting power forward Larry Nance Jr. to a hand injury. The freakishly athletic big man suffered a fractured left hand late in the third quarter after coming down from a pump fake that got him up in the air. Although there appeared to me minimal contact on his return to the hardwood, Nance quickly held his non-shooting hand and rushed to the locker rooms.
While an undoubtedly devastating blow for the Lakers, luckily their power forward rotation was incredibly deep and they were able to replace his production with relative ease. Sliding into his role as the lead four, draft day heist Kyle Kuzma came up big time, whipping up 22 points in under 30 minutes.
Center Brook Lopez also contributed a hardy 27 points on the night, but somehow managed to disappoint, snagging just three boards while giving up points in a hurry with his lazy standstill defensive efforts.
Moving forward, the Lakers will likely replace Nance by committee, giving Kuzma and Julius Randle more minutes to strut their stuff on the court. When the highflying forward returns, there is no guarantee he’ll retain the starting spot he earned coming out of training camp, but the ongoing position battle can only bode well for the expedited development of the Lakers young front court.
With minutes to distribute and dark horse Rookie of the Year candidate Kyle Kuzma chomping at the bit to leave his mark, the NBA may be in for a pleasant twist in this year’s Rookie of the Year race. The field is deep and Ben Simmons is swiftly running away with the award with each passing game, but don’t count out Kuzma giving the Aussie a run for his money.
Kuzma’s versatile, intelligent and plays with a chip on his shoulder. He already has front offices everywhere kicking themselves for passing him up on draft night, don’t be the fool who writes him off before he has the chance prove himself. This kid’s the real deal.
