Lakers hot start couldnt hide glaring weakness, and it was just exposed

That didn’t last long.For three glorious games, the Lakers looked like they had discovered the secret to winning basketball in 2026: score so many points on offense that nobody notices you can’t stop anybody on defense.Through their first three games of the NBA season, Luka Doncic was putting up MVP numbers.Austin Reaves was playing like an All-Star and the perfect No.

2 scoring option alongside Doncic.Walker Kessler looked like the trade of the century, catching alley-oops, protecting the rim and putting up numbers at center the Lakers haven’t seen since Wilt Chamberlain and Shaquille O’Neal.Then the Trail Blazers came to town Tuesday night and delivered a 136-129 reality check that exposed the same glaring weakness everyone worried about before the season began.The Lakers still can’t defend the perimeter, and no amount of offensive fireworks can hide that fact forever.Portland shot a ridiculous 59% from the field, buried 18 of 36 3-pointers and scored at least 32 points in every quarter.

The Blazers didn’t just exploit the Lakers’ defense, they made them look like traffic cones on the court during a shootaround. “We got broken down a lot,” Lakers coach JJ Redick admitted afterward.“The game-plan discipline, KYP [Know Your Personnel] discipline wasn’t where it needs to be.”Ja Morant repeatedly sliced through Los Angeles’ perimeter defenders, forcing help rotations that left shooters open.

Deni Avdija scored at will, including behind the arc for 23 points.Jrue Holiday added 22.

Damian Lillard reminded everyone in attendance at Crypto.com Arena that “Dame Time” is still alive and well, delivering dagger after dagger in the fourth quarter, including the game-clinching basket with 43 seconds remaining.Frankly, the Lakers had no answers for the Trail Blazers’ offense.And that should concern Redick considerably more than his team’s first loss.Through four games, Los Angeles averaged 128.2 points, second in the NBA, with an offensive...