The Portland Trail Blazers are ending the 2024-25 season combining their injury list with the Los Angeles Lakers to make a report long enough that, if knitted in wool rather than printed on a piece of paper, would make a proper New England scarf. The Lakers have secured a 50-win season and the West’s 3 seed, and the Blazers are at worst guaranteed to split 9th-best lottery odds with the Phoenix Suns.
Neither of these teams need a win.
It’s a shame for NBA fans in Portland who might want to see some of the NBA’s best players actually… you know… play basketball. But the NBA’s perverse lottery incentives that make the end of an 82-game season an exercise in faking it result in games like these, where instead we get to see extended minutes from Markieff Morris and Rayan Rupert.
Portland Trail Blazers (35-46, -3.1 Net Rating) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (50-31, +1.6 Net Rating)
Sun. April 13 @ 12:30pm Pacific
How to watch via antenna or cable: See your options on the Rip City Television Network
How to watch via streaming: BlazerVision in Oregon and Washington; NBA TV elsewhere (also available on streaming via NBA TV on League Pass)
Trail Blazers injuries: Shaedon Sharpe (questionable); Deni Avdija (doubtful); Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, Jerami Grant, Robert Williams III, Deandre Ayton, Bryce McGowens (out).
Lakers injuries: Jordan Goodwin (probable); Jaxon Hayes, Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent (questionable); LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Maxi Kleber, Dorian Finney-Smith (out).
As a Blazers fan, what can we take from tonight’s game? Perhaps a one-game sample size with a good game from a heretofore end-of-bencher will be enough to buoy our hopes of their breakout season come next October. Or perhaps that one extra lottery combination really has us rooting for a loss.
Mostly, we can say goodbye to a season that actually had quite a few bright spots after a disastrous beginning and start locking in for playoff basketball from teams that wear colors other than red and black… and not this year but next, the end of the season will allow us to begin turning our attention to Portland’s new, as-yet-unnamed WNBA team.
Whatever your reason for tuning in, I just want to say thanks for being here, for reading, for joining conversations on the site, and for being a part of Blazer’s Edge. Without getting too mushy, you all are the reason the time spent on these and other pieces always feels fun, and interesting, and worth it.
Thank you… and see you next season!
Last Time They Played…
…Portland fell behind by nearly 20 early and were able to rally back, but not enough to get the win.
Reader Questions
Before most games this year, we asked you all to make our previews better by asking us questions! Keep your eyes peeled (next season!) for posts just like this to add your questions and (possibly) have them answered right here in these very previews!
From RedUniInLA:
I will address my question in the form of an advice column question.
Dear Abby,
For decades I have lived with the firm belief that a Laker loss is a good day. But, I also want the Blazers to move up into the top 4 of this lottery and never be in another draft lottery again, so I want them to get the most balls possible. Since their odds improve if they lose this game, then I want that. But I also want it to be a “good day” where the Lakers lose. Any advice?
Signed, A Blazer Fan in Enemy Territory
Dear RedUniInLA: First, how I admire your commitment to America’s Team, the Portland Trail Blazers, despite living in the nation’s notorious cesspool for fairweather, frontrunning sports fandom! Bra-VA.
Second, fear not: your rooting interest in tonight’s game can remain (somewhat) pure. As of now, the worst the Blazers can do – with a win tonight and a Phoenix Suns loss – is tie for 9th-best lottery positioning with the aforementioned Suns. If that happens, the Suns and Blazers will split their lottery odds, but hold a coin flip for ONE extra ping pong ball combination (of 1,001 such combos) as well as which position they hold if they don’t get one of the top four picks. This means the Blazers with a win and a Suns loss would have virtually the same chance at the lottery, but move from 9th to 10th (unless a team behind them jumps up).
Maybe this is enough for some fans to withhold their most full-throated cheers for the home team in Portland, but it shouldn’t be. It’s a far cry from the ~20% to ~ 13% swing at a top-4 pick that would happen if the teams naturally fell to 9th and 10th without a tie.
In short: BEAT LA.
From BlazinDucks:
How the heck are the Blazers favorites
Because the Lakers will probably be starting Shake Milton and Trey Jemison instead of Luka Doncic and LeBron James!
From Blazerspinwheel:
Would you agree the Blazers really have only two untouchable players when it comes to trade talks in this next off season in Deni and Toumani?
Those two, plus Clingan and Shaedon Sharpe: Clingan because he’s a rookie who has shown All-Defense potential, and Sharpe because he’s still only 21 and deserves to show what he can do with a better team and different coach around him.
From thevolv30:
Who is the leading scorer tomorrow (either team)?
I smell a huge Toumani Camara game!
About the Opponent:
Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times recapped the Lakers’ recent win over the Houston Rockets where the Lakers clinched their playoff seeding and secured their 50th win:
After the game the locker room erupted in celebration, the party so loud it could be heard through the walls. As JJ Redick met his players, they met him with ice buckets, dousing the rookie coach. “The whole locker room is literally the water,” Hachimura said. “Straight water.” They had reason to celebrate before refocusing on the next chapter of their season. “It’s an accomplishment to win 50 games in the regular season in any year,” Redick said. “I think particularly in this year, in this Western Conference, it is. And it’s a credit to our players. Each one at different points in time has contributed to winning. They’ve all participated in a winning culture.”
Raj Chipalu of Silver Screen and Roll broke down film of the Lakers’ win over the Rockets, including the lineup they expect to lean on most heavily in the upcoming playoffs:
Head coach J.J. Redick has relied heavily on one centerless lineup in particular. The most frequently used five-man combination in the last ten games has been Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves, LeBron James, Dorian Finney-Smith and Rui Hachimura. In that, Redick has found his death lineup for the playoffs. The sole center in the rotation, Jaxson Hayes, starts and is pulled within the first four minutes of each game. In comes Finney-Smith, completing the death unit. They go to it early and often, especially late in the fourth quarter. Transitioning from Hayes’ lob threat to Finney-Smith alters the floor’s geometry. Every player in that unit must be defended out to the perimeter, enlarging the floor and making screen actions more complicated to send help from. In the clip below against Houston on Friday, notice as Reaves sets the down screen for LeBron, with the Rockets’ defense stretched corner to corner. There’s no backside help due to Hachimura occupying Jock Landale, the sole big on the floor. Two defenders stay with Reaves, leaving LeBron open for the jumper.
In the previous matchup against a healthy Houston squad, the Lakers closed with this same five. Rockets head coach Ime Udoka spoke on the challenges of that unit. “It’s obviously a spacing unit that shoots a lot of threes and the spacing is totally different, obviously, without Hayes in there.” Udoka said before Friday’s matchup. “They switched a lot more on defense so there’s some advantages for them and it was kind of a battle of wills as far as the second half with us playing bigger lineups versus their smaller ones.”
