That start mattered more than usual because of who wasn't there. Vit Krejci was ruled out after getting hurt in Phoenix, and Ja Morant and Shaedon Sharpe were already out, so Portland was playing a short rotation against a home team with its full top end. Doncic started next to Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler, Jake LaRovia and Matisse Thybulle. Portland went to the half up 60-53 anyway.
The 3rd quarter decided the game, and it was lopsided. LA won it 34-15. Portland, which had put up 60 in the first half, managed 15 in 12 minutes, and a 7-point lead turned into a 12-point hole going into the 4th. That is the thin-rotation problem the preview warned about, showing up at the worst possible time: the stretch after halftime when the starters need a breather and there is nobody to bring in.
Portland did not quit. The Blazers dropped 43 on LA in the 4th, the best quarter either team had all night, and cut a 12-point deficit to 6 by the final horn. The Lakers answered with 37 of their own, which is enough to hold a lead. The comeback that worked in Denver never got closer than that, and Portland's 3rd quarter is the reason it came up short.
The box score this recap pulled from had the line score but no individual stat lines, so the player-by-player answers the preview owed are missing here. That covers whether Doncic stretched his 35-point streak to 7 games, what Reaves added as the 2nd option, and how Lillard, Avdija and Clingan split the scoring. What the quarters do show is that LA's defense, the unit that held Sacramento to 38.2% shooting, took over in the 3rd. The 242 combined points also say this was nowhere near a grind for 48 minutes.
The Lakers evened the season series with Portland on their own floor, in an NBA Cup game. The Blazers drop to 6-2 and 5-1 on the road, and the loss doesn't say much about the starters. It says a lot about the bench. Until Krejci, Morant or Sharpe come back, Portland is a team that can win any 36 minutes and gets exposed in the other 12.
