The Portland Trail Blazers dethroned the defending summer league champion Los Angeles Lakers in a rematch of last years tilt Tuesday night. The Blazers got the better of the Lakers this time around by the score of 91-73. This championship helped Portland complete a perfect summer.
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Poor shooting early on prevented the Lakers from a quick start. Usual sharp shooter Svi Mykhailiuk was 0-6 from the floor in the first quarter and never seemed to find his stroke after that. Summer league MVP Josh Hart wasn’t his usual self, as he was limited to 12 points on 3/12 from the floor.
The Blazers, meanwhile, who have had six different players lead them in scoring this summer, continued to thrive offensively. With the help of KJ McDaniels and Gary Trent Jr., the Blazers shot 49% from the field.
Portland used nine different players with NBA experience, which proved to be effective. Losing three rotational players on their NBA squad certainly hurts, but some of their summer league standouts like Wade Baldwin will be looking to fulfill those roles. Caleb Swanigan and Zach Collins will see more minutes as well with the departure of Ed Davis.
Lakers forward Josh Hart ended his phenomenal summer by being thrown out late in the 4th quarter, in which the game had already been clearly decided at that point.
