The Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers for the second time in a week on Sunday night at the Staples Center with Damian Lillard taking over in the fourth quarter once again.
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Head coach Byron Scott talked about Lillard’s performance following the loss to the Blazers saying the following, via Lakers Nation reporter Serena Winters:
Byron Scott: "We played real tough & then Damian kind of takes over. He's just a hell of a player. He's pretty damn good."
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) January 12, 2015
Lillard put on a show against the Lakers scoring a game-high 34 points and turning it on when Portland needed him to down the stretch. Jeremy Lin and Ronnie Price were powerless to contain the former lottery pick out of Weber State University who made plays at will in the second half.
The Lakers were without Kobe Bryant on Sunday with the five-time NBA champion needing the time to rest, but this squad was holding it together until Lillard started to get going.
Wesley Johnson led the way for the Lakers with a team-high 17 points in his first game back from injury. Carlos Boozer was also solid coming off the bench scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
Unfortunately, despite the Lakers being in this game for the majority of the contest, Lillard proved to be too much to handle with Los Angeles falling to the Blazers at home.
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