The first day of the NBA playoffs was limestone. The second? Yes, not so much. The no. 1 seeded Milwaukee Bucks started the day by losing to the Orlando Magic, and the no. 1 seed Los Angeles Lakers ended the day by losing to the Portland Trail Blazers. It is the first time since 2003 in which both no. 1-seed lost their openers, and in the case of the Lakers, it came down to a lack of depth. LeBron James scored 23 points, pulled in 17 rebounds and fired 15 assists, while Anthony Davis scored 28 points from his own leg, but the Lakers players shot 4-of-22 from 3-point range. They just can’t score enough to win if that happens.
The Portland players were not great either, but Damian Lillard’s 34 points were enough to lead them to a victory. Now, the Blazers will need to win just three games out of six needed to stun the Western Conference’s Node 1 seed. The Lakers will have to return to the drawing board if they want to prevent such humiliation. What happened last night was completely and utterly unacceptable.
