Blazers stay unbeaten, beat Lakers 136-129 as Lillard hits late 3 (Oct. 28)
Quick Read
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 136-129 Tuesday night in Los Angeles to improve to 3-0.
Ja Morant and Deni Avdija scored 23 points each, Jrue Holiday added 22 off the bench and Damian Lillard scored 21, including a 3-pointer with 43 seconds left that sealed it.
Luka Doncic scored 41 points for the Lakers, who fell to 3-1 with their first loss of the season.
Portland plays its next game at home against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Moda Center.
LOS ANGELES - The Trail Blazers are still perfect. Portland held off a fourth-quarter push from Luka Doncic and beat the Los Angeles Lakers 136-129 on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena, a nationally televised game on NBC and Peacock.
Ja Morant and Deni Avdija led Portland with 23 points apiece, and Damian Lillard added 21. The Associated Press reported it is the franchise's second 3-0 start in the last 15 years, and Portland is unbeaten so far under new coach Micah Nori.
How it was won
Portland shot 59% from the field (46 of 78) and made 18 of 36 3-pointers, according to the ESPN box score. The AP noted the Blazers missed only 10 shots in the entire first half, yet Los Angeles still led 73-68 at halftime and 103-102 after three quarters.
Portland pushed its lead to eight early in the fourth before Doncic returned from the bench and led a Lakers comeback, the AP reported. Lillard and Avdija hit back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minutes, and Doncic and Ziaire Williams answered both. Morant then hit midrange jumpers on consecutive trips to put Portland up five, and Lillard closed it with his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 43 seconds to play. The Blazers won the fourth quarter 34-26 and finished on a 15-8 run.
Lillard went 4 of 8 from 3-point range but, unusually for him, missed four free throws, finishing 7 of 11 at the line. As a team Portland shot 26 of 41 on free throws.
Bench and big men
Jrue Holiday scored 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting off the bench and was a game-high plus-10. Robert Williams III added 14 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes, and starting center Donovan Clingan had 9 points and 10 rebounds. Avdija also handed out nine assists, and Toumani Camara made 4 of 5 3-pointers for 12 points.
Portland outscored the Lakers 56-48 in the paint and outrebounded them 38-31. Avdija and Morant were both plus-8.
The Lakers' side
Doncic finished with 41 points, nine assists and six 3-pointers, coming off a 52-point game at Utah over the weekend, the AP reported. Austin Reaves scored 26 and Sandro Mamukelashvili added 17 off the bench, including a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer.
Injuries and what's next
Shaedon Sharpe remains out after right knee surgery, and guard Chris Youngblood was listed out with left ankle soreness, according to ESPN's injury report.
The Blazers (3-0) return home to face the Memphis Grizzlies at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at Moda Center, on KUNP 16 and BlazerVision, per the team schedule on ESPN. After that, Portland plays at Utah on Saturday, then visits Denver and Phoenix next week.
Sources
ESPN: Trail Blazers 136, Lakers 129 box score (Oct. 27, 2026)
Associated Press via ESPN: Ja Morant, Damian Lillard lead unbeaten Trail Blazers past Lakers 136-129 despite Luka Doncic's 41
ESPN: Portland Trail Blazers schedule
Cover photo: Damian Lillard (51657204562), by Erik Drost, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY 2.0
Comments