Lakers vs Trail Blazers 2018-19 Season Opener Preview

by
Former Writers
October 18, 2018

Jaime Valdivia Moreira via Flickr

Today is the beginning of a new era for the Los Angeles Lakers. LeBron James is making his long awaited regular season debut in a Lakers uniform. The Lakers will be visiting Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers. Tonight’s Lakers vs Trail Blazers matchup is definitely going to steal the show.

People easily forget how deadly this Trail Blazers team can be. They were the third seed in the Western Conference, and feel as if they still have something to prove. This will be no easy opener for James by any means. In fact, James has never won his first game with a new team. With Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma looking to take big leaps this season, that streak might just come to an end tonight.

Lakers Vs Trail Blazers: Projected Starting Lineups

Lakers: Rajon Rondo, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Brandon Ingram, LeBron James, Javale McGee

Trail Blazers: Damian Lollards, CJ McCollum, Jake Layman, Zach Collins, Jusuf Nurkic

Injury Report

Lakers: Moritz Wagner (Day-To-Day), Alex Caruso (Out)

Trail Blazers: Maurice Harkless (Day-To-Day)

What To Expect In LeBron’s Debut

There’s no doubt all eyes will be on James and the Lakers tonight. This young Lakers team is hungry, and James definitely wants to make a statement tonight. Ingram is now James’ new favorite target. He definitely needs to set the tone for the season tonight. There are people who doubt the capabilities of Ingram right now since he is still pretty young. The sky is the limit for this Lakers team if Ingram can take a big step in his development this season.

Another Lakers player to keep an eye on tonight is Lonzo Ball. Ball will be coming off the bench to start off the year. He’s still recovering from offseason knee surgery. This could be Ball’s last year in Los Angeles if he does not have a successful sophomore season. However, I do not expect his rookie shooting woes to follow him any longer. Ball is another Laker who wants to make a statement this season and it starts tonight.

Lakers Vs Trail Blazers Prediction

My heart and my head are giving me two different predictions. My heart says Lakers, but I’m going with the Trail Blazers tonight. This Lakers team is going to take time to work. I expect this team to get off to a slow start around 11-14. Lillard is an All-Star in this league and definitely is looking to rebound after a poor playoff performance last season. The Lakers just don’t have the chemistry as of now.

From a stats perspective, I think James will make his presence felt running the power forward spot. He can easily average double digits rebounds this year. Also, I think James will have 41 points. He wants to put on a show and I cant wait to see it.

Ingram will start off around 22 points tonight. That’s right about where I think he will average this year. James is going to have the ball a ton tonight. Ingram will still get plenty of open looks at the rim via James, but tonight is all about James and the show he will put on.

Final Score: Trail Blazers 102 Lakers 90