🆕Portland Trailblazers X Los Angeles Lakers | NBA Playoff Preview And Series Predication Video

FYF Sportsman, it's Lamont. Man, we back with another video. Today, we're just gonna be doing another game day preview breakdown. We're just gonna get straight to it. The most intriguing series of the NBA playoffs thus far right now that we're gonna be seeing is gonna be the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Portland Trail Blazers. I mean, there's so much there. Portland's definitely not playing like a eight seed. The Lakers have been struggling going into these eight games in the NBA bubble. With them being the one seed in the West, there's a lot riding on LeBron James' legacy, a lot riding on Anthony Davis and what he needs to accomplish in his career. And we see the Portland Trail Blazers and Damian Lillard coming. We're gonna be breaking down today Portland Trail Blazers versus the Los Angeles Lakers, and I'll be giving my prediction for that series and why I think that things will go the way they will. Before we get into that, make sure you guys like, comment, subscribe, hit the notification bell to the video. On the video, again, make sure you're interacting with us, engaging all of our contact. We appreciate anyone who reaches out to us in our comments, so make sure, once you watch the video, let us know what your prediction is by mentioning it in the comments down below, or you can also hit us up on Instagram or Twitter as well, and you can let us know there as well. But we're gonna get straight to it right now. Again, the most intriguing matchup are the NBA playoffs. All right, so we got, you know, the first thing we wanna break down is, and you know, when we're looking at these two teams, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers, what we have to do is we have to break down their strengths and their weaknesses. And that's the first thing we have to look at when we're trying to evaluate this particular matchup. With regards to the Los Angeles Lakers, their primary strength, their primary strength, not just over the course of this season, but even in the NBA bubble, has been their transition offense. They've been able to get out onto the break because of their defense. And when this team gets out into transition, they're nearly unstoppable. They're second in the NBA in transition points per 100 possessions. They have elite chemistry, you know, with LeBron James on your team, especially going into the playoffs. I know one thing that he's gonna make certain is that these guys are all on the same page. Everyone understands the strategy, and that's where guys can elevate their level of play because of the chemistry that teams led by LeBron James can have, especially going into the playoffs. So I do like that about the Los Angeles Lakers. Another thing that I like about the Los Angeles Lakers is definitely their size. Their size with Anthony Davis, being able to play Anthony Davis, who's a seven footer along with either Dwight Howard or JaVale McGee. I think that is gonna pose a lot of problems for a number of teams. That's a lot of length to be able to score over when you're getting into the post. And I think that kind of makes teams play one-sided. They have to start shooting a lot of threes. And again, if you're not hitting that night, you're gonna be in for a long night when you're playing against the Los Angeles Lakers. When we talk about strengths for the Portland Trail Blazers, the Blazers, man, the Blazers, the number one strength, the number one attribute, especially in this playoff bubble, has been their three-point shooting. They're one of the best teams shooting it from deep. Damien Lillard's blazing hot right now. Blazing, blazing hot right now. We've seen CJ knock down big threes. Carmelo Anthony's has now developed that consistent corner three-point shot, just along with just making buckets all over the court as well. So with regards to shooting, Portland has not only been an elite team, but they've been able to improve that. Now we see Gary Trent Jr. stepping up in the playoff bubble. We're in an elevated role now that Trevor Ariza isn't here. We see other guys like Zach Collins, who has the ability to step out and hit the three. Nurkick can step out and hit the three. So elite three-point shooting is something that's helped carry Portland into the playoffs. That's what helped them clinch the eight seed. And another thing, this has been extremely surprising with the Portland Trail Blazers. One of their strengths has now become their interior defense, their rim protection. The bigs that they have with Hasan Whiteside, he's a great rim protector. Not necessarily a great defender, but a great rim protector. The same with Yusuf Nurkick, great rim protector. And then we also have Zach Collins. So similar to the Lakers, now Zach Collins is not as elite as Anthony Davis, but similar to the Lakers, the Blazers can play two seven-footers at any given time, if they chose to do so, pairing Zach Collins with either Nurkick or Whiteside. We haven't seen the Blazers go to that look much. The usage of Zach Collins has kinda went down, especially as the Blazers have started to make that really, really serious run for that, to clinch that eight seed. But again, that option is always there. Now that we've talked about strengths of both teams, now we have to, and this is one of the things I have to really consider, are the weaknesses of both teams. And for the Lakers, going into this playoff bubble, for the Lakers, three-point shooting has been one of their biggest struggles. They're in the bottom 10 in the NBA in three-point shooting, and shooting at 35.8 field goal percentage, or 35.8 three-point field goal percentage. So what we really need to see from the Lakers, and what we really need to see from LeBron, we need to see guys like Danny Green, Dion Waiters, J.R. Smith, they're gonna have to make shots, especially from the three-point line. And when we're talking about a Portland team that struggled to defend, especially on the perimeter, these guys have to make shots. They have to make Portland pay on that perimeter with three-point shooting. Now, the last couple games that we saw from the Lakers in the bubble, we saw them improve that three-point shooting drastically. But one thing that we know about a lot of these guys, like Danny Green, J.R. Smith, and Dion Waiters, they're really, really streaky three-point shooters. So again, I don't wanna see the Lakers having to rely on Anthony Davis and LeBron James to chuck up threes. All of these guys on the Laker bench are gonna have to make shots if they wanna beat the Portland Trail Blazers. With the Portland Trail Blazers, the two biggest weaknesses that I see with the Portland Trail Blazers, perimeter defense. Perimeter defense has been terrible. It's been atrocious for the Portland Trail Blazers over the last three to four years or so. Now, they were getting bailed out when they had defenders like Aminu and Moe Harkless. That kinda helped them out on the perimeter. They don't have those guys any longer. They don't have a Trevor Ariza now. Now, they have their best perimeter defender right now is gonna be Gary Trent Jr. And again, he's a six-man coming off the bench, so we don't know how many minutes he can actually give you. If he's not making shots, how long can Terry Stotts leave him on the court? Perimeter defense is something that the Portland Trail Blazers are going to have to figure out because when you have a player like LeBron James on the perimeter who is streaky but can make shots, his best attribute is being able to attack and kick out the shooters. These guards are gonna have to find a way to contain to some degree if they're looking to slow down the Lakers because again, they do excel in that transition so much, especially if they can start getting stops. The second weakness that I see with the Portland Trail Blazers, it's really been foul trouble that's plagued them even throughout the season. So the Portland, I really look for them to improve on that going into the playoffs. They cannot foul as much. They have to stay in front of guys. They have to contain. And because of the shortened bench that they have, they have to play without fouling. They don't have much bench depth. You can't rely on a lot of those young guys to come off the bench and give you good quality minutes in a playoff game. So Portland Trail Blazers, they're gonna have to be able to play D without fouling. Can't have Carmelo Anthony getting into foul trouble. We can't have Zach Collins getting into foul trouble. He's been known to get in foul trouble early in games and you really cannot afford to have Yusuf Nurkic getting into foul trouble. That's gonna present a lot of problems for the Portland Trail Blazers if they cannot guard without fouling. Now when we focus on the most important players, what players are gonna need to step up in this series? For the Lakers, obviously it's gotta be LeBron James. LeBron James has to step up. LeBron James has to be great. If LeBron James isn't great, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have a chance. They don't stand a chance to win this series. And obviously for the Portland Trail Blazers, it's gonna be Damian Lillard, but not just Damian Lillard, because we've seen Damian Lillard play great, but if guys like Nurkic, as we see right here, C.J. McCollum, Gary Trent Jr., if those guys do not show up, Carmelo, Anthony, these guys cannot take a night off. Again, we know Lillard's gonna come out. We know Lillard is going to give 30 points or more. Where Portland has struggled and when Portland has struggled, they've struggled when C.J. McCollum has disappeared. They've struggled when Hasan Whiteside has disappeared. When those things happen, when those things happen, this is one of the reasons why Portland has struggled in the regular season so much. Commonly, what we would see in the regular season, you would either see C.J. McCollum with the hot hand and Damian Lillard will have the off night, or you would have Damian Lillard with the hot hand and C.J. McCollum with the off night. You can't have that when you play this Laker team. We need everybody clicking on all cylinders if they wanna stay competitive in this particular series. Now we're just gonna kinda go, we're gonna transition over. We're just gonna break down the numbers. All right, now we're just gonna transition over. We're gonna break down some of the numbers here based on what we've seen. We've seen these teams match up three times this year already, the Lakers are two and one against the Portland Trail Blazers in those games. I just, like I said, I'm so worried about Portland Trail Blazers. I'm worried about their ability to contain Anthony Davis. If we look at these stats right here, I really want you guys to pay attention to this. If we look at these stats right here, Anthony Davis has been a problem for the Portland Trail Blazers. In the first game where they matched up, or in the most recent game where they matched up, Anthony Davis had 37 points. Now obviously this was the game where Lillard went ballistic in L.A., led them to the victory. I know the Lakers were playing with a heavy heart. That was around the time when Kobe Bryant passed and I think that was a game that they really didn't want to play. But again, Anthony Davis stepped up 37 points. They played in December twice. In 2019, they played Anthony Davis again, 39 points and a win. When the Portland allows Anthony Davis to dominate so easily, they're almost impossible to beat. And then the most surprising game of them all was when they played on December 28th in Portland. Los Angeles Lakers took off to a very, very big lead. There was no Anthony Davis that game, but Kyle Kuzma stepped up and gave 24 points. LeBron James had a great all-around game. So again, that was a game right there that shows you the Portland Trail Blazers can win games. I mean, the Lakers can win games against Portland without one of their best stars, Anthony Davis, and then win decisively. Now I know the score ended up being 128 to 120, a little closer, but for the majority of that game, that was really a blowout where Los Angeles Lakers really, really took it to Portland. And the two wins that they had were at Portland. So them playing at a neutral site, on a neutral site, I don't think home court advantage is not gonna really necessarily affect the Lakers. We've seen them go into Portland and win games. So I don't think the setting or where they're playing at is gonna have any major impact on the outcome of this particular series. Players to watch for in this particular series, I'm gonna say Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis is going to put up big numbers. If you're a fantasy sports player, you're gonna wanna fall in love with this matchup with Anthony Davis versus the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers have struggled to guard power forwards over the last few years. This year is no difference. With Nurkic, Nurkic is a big body that you can throw out there. But again, Anthony Davis, the problem that he poses is that he plays from the outside in. So that makes other teams have to delegate a faster player, usually a smaller player, to go out there and guard Anthony Davis. And the Portland Trail Blazers, with Zach Collins being that only guy, and he tends to get in foul trouble a lot, it's just not gonna be a great matchup for the Portland Trail Blazers with Anthony Davis. Now with LeBron James, they're gonna have to find a way to contain, to keep him out of the paint. I would think, and if I had to take a guess, I would say that they're gonna put either Carmelo Anthony or Gary Trent Jr. on LeBron James. Gary Trent Jr. has been their best perimeter defender. Again, he's not gonna be able to stop LeBron. But with regards to slowing LeBron James down, taking away what he does best, Gary Trent Jr. is going to have to go all out in trying to stop or slow down LeBron James. With regards to the Portland Trail Blazers, obviously, every game, Lillard's gonna have to play great. We saw Lillard play great heading into, as far as clinching his eight seed, we saw him play great against Dallas, Memphis, and Brooklyn, three games in a row. He had astronomical games, put up big numbers. And it wasn't just him, his supporting cast showed up in all of those games as well. I know when CJ's back was bothering him against Brooklyn, Carmelo Anthony stepped up. CJ had a great game against Memphis. Everybody had a great game against Dallas. So again, I love how these other guys are finding a way, they're especially important, they're finding a way to be useful, even when they're not scoring the ball. I've seen Lillard make plays defensively, CJ's been making plays defensively, Melo on occasion can make plays defensively. That's what the Portland Trail Blazers are gonna have to continue to do if they wanna be competitive in this particular series. So, my prediction, my prediction for the series. You know, after really thinking about this, man, I'm looking at the dominance of some of the players. The thing that led me to this particular decision was the fact that knowing that playoff basketball coaches shorten their roster, they go down to about six to seven guys they rarely will go eight deep. And when I look at the Lakers top guys, and when I compare that to Portland's top guys, I just think the Lakers have too much experience and too much skill. Anthony Davis and LeBron James, you got two of the top five players in the NBA, two of the top five players in the NBA on one team. And it's not just that you have two of the top five players in the NBA, it's the types of matchup issues that they present. Anthony Davis and LeBron James. LeBron James is unstoppable when he can go into the rim, easily the best passer in the NBA. He finds a way to get the job done whenever the job needs to get done. He's obviously been the best player of this particular era. And then when we talk about Anthony Davis, one of the most unique talents that we've seen in the NBA in a long time, he's a seven footer that can hit the three. He's a seven footer that can drive just as efficient as any slasher in the NBA. And he's probably the best defender in the NBA. I think his defense, LeBron's ability to pick teams apart, I think those two things, along with the fact that I think Danny Green and guys like Contavious Caldwell-Polk are gonna make shots. I think that the Lakers will win this series in five. I have the Lakers winning 4-1, beating the Portland Trailblazers. And that will be my prediction. And I know a lot of people, they're riding the wave, they're riding that Portland Trailblazer wave, they're riding the high end. But when I sit down and I just look at the basketball, aspect of this particular matchup, when I look at the advantages and disadvantages that each team has, I just think that Portland has to play extremely great over a period of four games. I don't see them beating the Lakers four times in a seven game series, not with their inability to guard. And then also the inconsistency with regards to shot making. The shot making ability of this team can come and go just like that. And against this Laker team, your shot making can't come and go. And we saw when the Lakers played the Clippers in that first bubble game, if your shot making disappears just for a second, this Laker team can take off on you because of how great they are in transition. So that will be my pick right there. I have the Lakers winning 4-1 in the first round over the eight seed. I do expect for the Blazers to make this interesting. I do expect for some of these games to be close. But again, if you're a fantasy sports player, this is a matchup right here where you're definitely eyeing LeBron James and Anthony Davis to have big, big numbers against the Portland Trail Blazers. All right, man. I hope you guys liked the video. If you guys have any questions, if you wanna know more about my picks or if you don't disagree with my picks, hit me up in the comments. Hit us up in the comments. Let us know what you think about this video. Let us know what your picks are. Also, let us know your fantasy selections. Again, as these playoff games go through, as these playoff games play, we're gonna be also doing our FanDuel picks as well. So again, let us know how your FanDuel lineups are panning out. Let us know who you're picking. You know, if you are going with Anthony Davis, if you're not going with Anthony Davis, do you trust him? Just, hey, let us know. Because again, as these playoffs go, we're gonna also be posting our FanDuel videos as well. And I love looking at your guys' lineups. A few of you guys have sent me your lineups. I've checked them out. Some of you guys have won money. Some of you guys haven't. So it's just about improving. It's just about getting better. And again, it's just fantasy basketball. You don't wanna invest your life savings into it. It's just something to do for fun. And again, it just helps pass the time. But we've come to the conclusion of this video. You guys have my selection. Make sure you hit me up on Instagram and Twitter. Let me know what you think about my pick. All right, all right. Other than that, make sure you guys subscribe. Hit that notification bell. Please do that. All your engagement definitely helps keep this channel sustainable. But we're gonna go ahead and wrap this up for the day. If you guys haven't done so already, we will be starting our live chat soon. We will be starting our live chat soon. So make sure if you're not subscribed or if you're not, if you haven't joined our Facebook group, NBA Go Talk, make sure you go to NBA Go Talk on Facebook and join that group because our live debates are gonna be held simultaneously on YouTube and Facebook at the same time. The only way you can be eligible for prizes is if you're enrolled in that group, NBA Go Talk. All right, we pick winners of our debates every single night. Every time we have a live debate, cash prizes will be given. So you're gonna wanna show up with your best arguments regardless of what we're talking about for that night. And you're gonna allow the chat to choose who the winner is. FYI, sports though, been another great video. All right, we'll see you guys soon. Can't wait to see the outcome of this Portland series that starts on Tuesday. And I'm definitely looking forward to see how my FanDuel lineups pan out when the games do start. FYI, sports, another great video and I'm out.