LOS ANGELES — Sample sized be damned, the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers ranked atop the league in scoring going into Tuesday night’s game at Crypto.com Arena.
Their early-season clash lived up to the billing as the teams produced a back-and-forth offensive clinic that ended with the Lakers (3-1) taking their first loss of the season in a 136-129 thriller.
Portland guard Ja Morant made a pair of running one-handed floaters in the final minutes and Damian Lillard drilled a wing 3-pointer to make it 135-129 with 42.8 seconds remaining to secure the road victory.
Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves missed a pair of 3-point attempts each on the following possession, allowing Portland to escape with its third win of the season.
Doncic picked up where he left off in his 52-point showcase against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, but he couldn’t will the Lakers to a late lead despite scoring 41 points on 12-for-22 shooting to go with nine assists. Doncic made 11 of 13 free throws in a game that that saw the teams combine for 71 total free throws.
The Blazers used a 9-1 run in the fourth quarter – getting a 3-pointer each from Lillard, Deni Avdija and Toumani Camara – to scrape together an eight-point lead that powered their fourth-quarter comeback.
Morant and Avdija each had 23 points to pace the Blazers, who shot 59% from the field overall and 18 for 36 from 3-point range. Guard Jrue Holiday had 22 points and Lillard finished with 21.
The Lakers led by as many as 11 points, and held a lead for most of the game – gaining a momentum spurt at the end of the first half thanks to one of their nine new players.
Sandro Mamukelashvili made a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute of the second quarter – the latter one coming when Reaves found the Georgian-American big man on the right wing for a buzzer-beater to conclude the first half. The Lakers led 73-68 at the break, weathering a 13-point swing that became a two-point deficit midway through the second quarter.
Mamukelashvili finished the game with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting, his best game with the Lakers so far after signing a four-year, $52 million contract with the franchise during free agency.
Another one of the Lakers’ multi-year acquisitions made an impact during the third quarter, when Doncic found guard Collin Sexton (nine points) alone under the basket twice in a two-minute span to force a Portland timeout with the Lakers leading 101-93.
But the new Lakers, along with Doncic and Reaves (26 points on 8-for-13 shooting, seven assists), couldn’t hold on.
Lakers center Walker Kessler was quiet for the second consecutive game, contributing 13 points and eight rebounds in a muted effort.
The Lakers shot 56% overall and 17 for 43 (40%) from behind the arc.
More to come on this story.