From Portland Trail Blazers On SI · · 1m 30s
Lakers vs. Blazers: Key Questions
Lakers face Blazers with Luka Doncic's impact and rebounding battle.
In brief
Lakers face Blazers with Luka Doncic's impact and rebounding battle. Lakers' rebounding weakness could be exploited by Blazers' strong rebounding to win. Originally reported by Portland Trail Blazers On SI.
Lakers' early success
The Lakers' early success has been more of a team effort, in my opinion. Luka has been a big part of them being 3-0, especially coming off the 52-point eruption, but this team seems to…
Luka's turnovers
Doncic's turnovers have been concerning. He's averaging 7.0 per game coming into Tuesday's matchup against the Blazers. Most of that is due to his career-high 11 turnovers against the Clippers.
Lakers without LeBron
How is the team reacting to LeBron James not being on the roster anymore?
Team chemistry
This team already has chemistry, which is impressive considering all the changes that were made over the summer.
Blazers' rebounding strength
The Blazers will be the toughest challenge the new-look Lakers have faced thus far. Portland has a chance to be something special this season, with Damian Lillard and Ja Morant leading the way.
Rebounding gap
The Lakers are the worst rebounding team in the NBA at the moment at 37.0 per game, while the Blazers are in the top five in that category at 50.5.
Game prediction
I see two potential scenarios.One, it's a game that comes down to the wire, with Doncic leading the Lakers to victory with some late-game heroics, as he did against the Jazz.
The takeaway
Lakers' rebounding weakness could be exploited by Blazers' strong rebounding to win.
