The first quick turnaround of the season for the Los Angeles Lakers comes on the second night of a back-to-back against the Portland Trail Blazers. The Lakers rolled to an easy victory on Sunday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 127-91 victory without star forward Anthony Davis, who is sitting the first night of the back-to-back with a minor calf contusion. The Wolves were also without their own star, Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Blazers will be without key contributor Carmelo Anthony, who is listed out due to health and safety protocols.
After an opening night loss to the Clippers, the Lakers have rolled to two straight easy wins. While the Mavericks were 0-2 after the Lakers game, they exploded for a 51 point win over the Clippers last night, and led by 50 at halftime. There have been some interesting results so far in the NBA season and the Mavericks-Clippers game probably takes the prize for now.
The last time that the Blazers and Lakers met was of course in the NBA Playoffs in the bubble in Orlando in the first round. The Blazers took the first game of the series before the Lakers won the next four and ultimately the NBA Championship.
Anthony Davis will return to the lineup against the players, and LeBron James will play the second night of the back-to-back after his 18 points and 9 rebounds performance in game one in only 26 minutes.
You will almost assuredly see LeBron James play about the same number of minutes in game two if the game is going well, as the team is going to try and manage results while also keeping players healthy and rested.
The game between the Blazers and Lakers will start at 7 pm PST and be shown on NBA TV nationally and Spectrum SportsNet.
