The Los Angeles Lakers took the court for the final time in the regular season on Sunday afternoon, travel to square off with the Portland Trail Blazers.
This game didn’t have any meaning for the Lakers as they already clinched a 50-win season and a the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference. Because of that, they understandably rested all of their keep players in order to avoid injury and rest up for the playoffs.
With that being the case, the Trail Blazers took advantage and ended their season with a 109-81 victory. The Lakers still wrapped up JJ Redick’s first season as a head coach with an impressive 50-32 record.
It predictably was an ugly start for the Lakers as the Trail Blazers began the game with nine straight points before Markieff Morris got L.A. on the board. Shake Milton and Dalton Knecht then both connected from deep to cap off a 10-0 run by the Lakers.
Bronny James, who made his first career start, was making some nice passes to set Jordan Goodwin up for open looks. Goodwin and Knecht each hit two triples in the first quarter, but the Lakers still trailing 29-25.
Milton and Morris were carrying the L.A. offense to start the second, and then Knecht got involved with another 3-pointer and a layup.
The Trail Blazers were shooting well from deep and also dominating the glass to take their first double digit lead. With the Lakers going cold, Portland took a 58-43 lead into the halftime locker room.
Knecht hit another 3 early in the third quarter, although the Lakers otherwise stayed cold offensively. Dalano Banton and Toumani Camara both caught fire from deep for the Trail Blazers as they extended their lead to 20.
Alex Len was struggling in a big way for the Lakers as he couldn’t keep Portland off the offensive glass and then fouled out midway through the third quarter. Goodwin was getting some buckets for L.A. but the Trail Blazers kept pouring it on and led 89-63 at the end of the third.
With the game out of reach, both teams were just focused on getting to the end of the road without any injuries. Once the clock hit zero, the Lakers were able to begin shifting their attention to the playoffs.
Knecht ended his rookie regular season strong with 27 points while Milton had 16.
The Lakers will now get a week off to rest and practice before they host Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs next weekend at Crypto.com Arena.
