The Lakers should be very, very afraid of the Blazers

LeBron and Co. should be nervous.

There were so many reasons ahead of the NBA restart in the bubble that the Portland Trail Blazers were the sleeper team no one would want to face in the postseason … that is, IF they made the playoffs.

Now that we’ve seen a few seeding games, I’m ready to declare it: this Blazers team can beat the Lakers.

Notice I’m not going as far to say they WILL. But as it stands right now, the Lakers should be sweating that matchup.

Let’s start with the Lake Show. They’re unbeatable when Anthony Davis played like he did against the Jazz. Since then, however, he’s put up a pair of ordinary games by his standards in two losses.

But the bigger issue is the Lakers’ shooting woes. Even if LeBron James and The Brow are their usual incredible selves, they won’t be able to keep up with the Blazers if they can’t hit from distance. On Thursday night, they once again struggled, hitting just two of their 19 attempts from beyond the arc. You could treat it as a small sample size concern … but as The Ringer detailed, shooting in the bubble might be easier with no fans in the stands, and most offenses are playing like there was no break.

And then there’s this James quote per The Athletic that shows some frustration about the Lakers’ offense:

LeBron gave a weird answer about this. He agreed that he and the Lakers were looking for a rhythm on offense. And then he said: “It’s just some things that you can’t control that’s here, that I really don’t want to talk about, that’s off the floor.”

If all of that is hanging over the Lakers’ heads come the postseason, that’s not good.

Let’s turn our attention to the Blazers save for a close loss to the Boston Celtics, they’ve won some tough games in the bubble against the Grizzlies, Rockets and Nuggets. On Thursday night, Damian Lillard dropped 11 threes and 45 points, proof that his incredible run before the NBA pause and last year’s playoffs weren’t aberrations.

Jusuf Nurkic has completely changed everything now that he’s back and healthy, menacing opponents inside and dunking on dudes.

Also, Gary Trent Jr. has emerged as a really solid bench scorer, shooting the lights out since the NBA returned.

Yes, I have my concerns about who’s defending James when it’s playoff time — it’s telling to me that Yahoo reported players tried to get Trevor Ariza to reverse his decision to opt out. And the matchup we’re all hoping for requires the Blazers to make their way through a play-in situation, and given how the Suns and Spurs are playing right now, there’s no guarantee it’ll happen.

But if the Blazers make the playoffs and if the Lakers find themselves struggling from outside in a series, and Dame is on a heater, and Nurk is doing Nurk things … we could see an upset.

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