Wow. While I had hoped that we would win the game on Mamba Day I didn’t know it would take on an unearthly quality. When we went up 24-8
I had a feeling that something special was in the making and it was.
Let’s dig in.
- A fitting tribute to Kobe, Gigi and everyone who passed away in the helicopter crash. I watch the Spectrum broadcasts whenever they’re available. For this game I thought it especially fitting. Stu noticed the 24-8 score instantly, it blew up the internet soon after. They went through the names of everyone who died a couple times. It’s easy to for Lakers fans to focus on Bryant, 41, and Gigi, 13, but the crash also claimed the lives of Payton Chester, 13; Sarah Chester, 45; Alyssa Altobelli, 14; Keri Altobelli, 46; John Altobelli, 56; Christina Mauser, 38; and the helicopter’s pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50. The NBA, city of Los Angeles, County of Orange and the NBA all did a great job paying homage. I wanted to do the same. You will all be missed.
- LeBron James’ masterpiece of a game. All the eulogizing, street naming et al is cool. But I don’t think Kobe would have appreciated anything as much as he would have loved watching LeBron put together as perfect a playoff game as one could imagine. In a scant 28 minutes James poured in 30 points on a ridiculously efficient 12 shots. He was 4-5 from three point line, made 6-8 free throws, made every 2 pointer he tried and he did it in 3 quarters. He dished 10 assists and grabbed 6 boards with a block for good measure. LeBron was other-worldly last night and I hope this level of play continues on all the way to the moment he hoists the Larry O’Brien trophy.
- Anthony Davis sitting out most of the game. Before he sat out the majority of the victory with back spasms (in his post-gamer on Spectrum he said he could have gone back in, everyone was playing great so he had the luxury to sit it out and is 100% going to play in game 5) Davis was putting as good a game as LeBron was. Portland has no answer whatsoever for AD. Whiteside is too slow, Nurkic too undisciplined, he’s passing well out of doubles…or splitting them…and he’s getting to the line. In 18 minutes he shot 5-8, got to the line 10 times making 8, and added 5 boards, 5 dimes, a steal and 2 blocks. I think it’s safe to say he finally found his All-Star caliber Bubble mojo.
- The starting five playing like they’re our best players. Everyone in the starting line up played great. JaVale was Godzilla-like on defense blocking shots, grabbing boards and forcing the opposing big to guard him and not sag. Danny Green found his game by not settling for threes and driving the ball into the paint. KCP was solid. The starting 5 shot great from three (9-14), played great defense (2 steals and 9 blocks). The best part was no starter played more than James’ 28 minutes setting us up for…
- The Bench Bunch! Bench Mob was the moniker bestowed upon the Jordan Farmar, Lamar Odom, Sasha Vujacic-era Laker bench. This is a new bunch and they got a lot of playoff burn last night. This marked the second game in the series where some of the guys on the Laker bench played near starter minutes and everyone but the G-Leaguers got some run. Led by Kyle Kuzma the bench of the Lakers has a lot more to offer than Portland’s bench does.
Portland looks gassed, some guys who don’t play often got in to the blowout last night and you could see why they aren’t getting meaningful minutes. The Blazers are really missing the flexibility Zach Collins brings, Melo and Whiteside are pulling a few too many shenanigans instead of just playing hard, and C.J. can only do so much. They can’t afford to lose Damian (awaiting his MRI from earlier today) and if he’s out for the next game I think we’ll see LT’s prediction of a 5 game series come to be. If he’s in I think Dame has enough magic in him to push it to a game 6. We’ve all but erased any chance of getting to 7 games and Portland’s only hope to pull this out is to force the series to 7. I just don’t see it happening. Too few bodies for the Blazers to throw at the Laker juggernaut which just a week ago looked vulnerable. Not any more.
Great Fiver after a great game, Jamie.
Thanks for listing all the names who perished in that crash. They all deserved to be remembered and will all be dearly missed.
We finally saw what this team could do when clicking on all cylinders. Playoff LeBron, Playoff AD, and Playoff Lakers.
The only win Portland was capable of stealing was when the Lakers shooters fizzled and their shooters were red hot. The only other time they were even in a game in this series was when the Lakers missed 15 free throws.
Harsh truth is the Blazers were exactly what they ended up being: a good 8th seed. Nothing more, nothing less. Their dreams were hoisted on the merits of beating a heart heavy Lakers team the first game back after Kobe’s death. We saw last night they had no chance against a KB spirit uplifted Lakers team.
Dame and CJ are great but not in the class of LeBron and AD. Lakers in Five was the right prediction and will be the right result. Credit the Blazers for helping the Lakers get their mojo back.
Thanks as always, Jaime. I had rushed to the store right before tip off to scoop up a few things for wifey while she was cooking for the game, came back and the Lakers were leading exactly 24-8. Didn’t believe the score because I am getting used to the Lakers slow starts. At that point I didn’t even realize the significance of those two iconic numbers until I read this post. Then I scanned through the comments and saw Tom wanting for LeBron to get the score to 81 at the half. Had that happened, and with a 24-8 score, it would have been symbolic and historic. The numbers 24 and 8 represent Mamba’s jersey numbers and 81 would represent Mamba’s historic 81 points. The win was great, entertaining and befitting of the great Mamba.
The game felt like a category 5 hurricane barreling down an opponent’s court, pummeling and flattening everything in its path. The Blazers were completely overmatched and destroyed. That was a very destructive Lakers basketball indeed. The Blazers do not stand a chance against the Lakers and like I said after game 1, the Blazers did not win that game. The Lakers lost it. They basically gave away that game when this series should have been over by now. However, I thank the Blazers for waking up a sleeping giant in the Lakers.
At the beginning of the restart, I have stated that the Lakers slow start was mainly due to lack of conditioning after that long layoff. Now that they are getting their legs under them they are becoming a very dangerous team and no team in their right mind would want to face the Lakers before the finals if they keep playing like this.