Los Angeles Lakers: Two keys to victory in season opener

The NBA is back! Fans of the Los Angeles Lakers get their first taste of the purple and gold this season in the team’s opening game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Los Angeles Lakers open up the season Thursday night against the Portland Trail Blazers. It will be LeBron James first regular season game as a Laker. The Lakers have lost 15 straight games in Portland, so it will be a tall task for them to get it done. But with Lebron on the team, it can be done.

Here are the Lakers’ two keys to victory.

Defense

The Trail Blazers have a lethal backcourt with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. The Los Angeles Lakers will need to contain these two guys to have a chance to win this game. These two guys account for a lot of the Blazers offense.

The Lakers will need to force them to take contested shots and make them work for their points. Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope will be primary defenders to start the game on Lillard and McCollum.

Rondo at one point in time was a strong defender but has dropped off in the past years, Caldwell-Pope is an outstanding defender and takes pride in it.

I think Lonzo Ball defense in this game will be tremendous, and he is the Lakers best perimeter defender, so I expect to see him on Lillard a lot. The Blazers will do a lot of pick and roll action, to force mismatches, look for the Lakers to go small so they can switch everything.

I also think the Blazers will try to go to their center Jusuf Nurkic in the post to take advantage off the Lakers lack of size. After JaVale McGee, the Lakers will try to use Kyle Kuzma at backup center, that will not work against Nurkic. I think if Nurkic gets going the Lakers will double team off Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu and force them to hit open shots from the outside.

Develop Offensive Rhythm

The Lakers will need to find a good offensive rhythm with all of the new players in place. I think Rondo will be vital in getting the ball moving and running the offense efficiently. Rondo is veteran and will know how to attack the Blazers defense.

LeBron will operate a lot at the high post, where he can direct traffic and hit the open cutters. LeBron has been good finding Brandon Ingram cutting to the basket. Ball movement will be crucial for the Lakers offense in this game.

The Lakers will need to push the tempo to get easy baskets in transition. The bench, which consists of Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Lance Stephenson, must have an impact on this game; they are critical for the Lakers this season.

There will be some open looks for the Lakers from three, but the team does not have very many shooters on the roster that are known for making threes.

All year I can see teams not respecting the Lakers outside shooting, so hopefully, somebody steps up and knocks some shots down.

This will be an entertaining game to watch. Both teams will want to get up and down the court, so be ready for a fast-paced game. I think the Lakers will pull this one out 108-104 and snap the 15 game losing streak in Portland.