Damian Lillard led the Portland Trail Blazers past the Los Angeles Lakers, 100-93, to take the lead of the series, shocking the biggest favorites to the title. It was expected that the Blazers will put some pressure on the Lakers and they confirmed that. Lillard and co. did a terrific job in front of the Purple and Gold, who let the game slip in the last seconds, forgetting about giving a foul to Lillard and letting the clock run out.
Damian Lillard records 34 PTS (9 in 4th), 5 REB, 5 AST, lifting the @trailblazers to a 1-0 series lead! #NBAPlayoffs
CJ McCollum: 21 PTS, 3 3PM
Jusuf Nurkic: 16 PTS, 15 REB
Carmelo Anthony: 11 PTS, 10 REB
Anthony Davis: 28 PTS, 11 REB
LeBron James: 23 PTS, 17 REB, 16 AST pic.twitter.com/4gXjxuk1bk
— NBA (@NBA) August 19, 2020
Lillard finished the game with 34 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds, shooting 43% from the field. Dame was great, but the Lakers missing plenty of open shots played a key role in this loss. Following the game, fans reacted to the Lakers’ performance and they didn’t have many good things to say about them.
https://twitter.com/JoeKnowsYT/status/1295932112416235523
Refs did everything to help the Lakers and they still lost, you hate to see it….
— @manvsparty in the other places too (@ManVsParty) August 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/saad_sammy/status/1295936947672817664
Lakers really gonna end up leaving the bubble pic.twitter.com/ERiT6QbuXf
— Satoru Gojo (@moon_cake013) August 19, 2020
Lol lakers role players gotta shoot better that’s it’s all lakers in 5
— EL_Crawfo (@el_crawfo) August 19, 2020
https://twitter.com/tim_vs_food/status/1295936944346726403
Naw i had them winning game 1 and getting that gentlemen sweep.. but if lakers shoot that poor it’ll take 6
— B-Smoove (@Ricky_Spanish24) August 19, 2020
The Lakers shot 5 of 32 from 3. 16%.
And Inside is talking about everything BUT that. 27 missed threes. Almost all of them open looks.
— Zachary Ross (@zross12) August 19, 2020
If this is how the Lakers and Bucks are going to be playing then the Raptors and Clippers will win this playoffs.
— Zaheer (@TeshawnTizzy) August 19, 2020
All fucking lebron did was pass the ball and rebound and anthony Davis lives in the free throw line tonight, you would know that if you watched the game and liked they lakers for what they are
— Gman (@Gman27167762) August 19, 2020
LeBron James seemed scared, Anthony Davis faded in the second half of the game, Danny Green wasn’t sharp, it was a recipe for disaster. They need to figure things out if they plan to win this series. The Blazers are inspired, they’ve been playing with this playoffs mentality since the seeding games started and the Lakers appear to still be figuring things out.
Frank Vogel and his pupils will have a lot to talk about tomorrow. This series was expected to be extremely entertaining and this first game didn’t disappoint fans.
