ORLANDO, Fla. _ The Portland Trail Blazers' spirited bubble run ended Saturday night, and the Los Angeles Lakers secured themselves a few days of rest before the second round of the playoffs.
Three days after they were scheduled to play Game 5 of their first-round series, the Lakers took the court to actually do so.
The Lakers beat the Trail Blazers 131-122, eliminating them from the playoffs. LeBron James scored 36 points and added 10 assists and 10 rebounds for his 25th career playoff triple-double, while Anthony Davis added 43 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Portland was led by CJ McCollum's 36 points, while Carmelo Anthony added 27.
NBA players spent the previous two days making sure they had a plan in place to induce commitments from their owners to promote voting and social justice initiatives, which meant a return to basketball was possible Saturday.
The Milwaukee Bucks, who started the NBA's interruption of play by refusing to play Wednesday, began Saturday by eliminating the Orlando Magic from the playoffs with a Game 5 win. Then it was the Lakers' turn.
In theory, this would be an easier task for them than it had been in the first four games. Portland star guard Damian Lillard went home after spraining his knee in Game 4, and the Lakers' defensive game plans had been built around stopping him.
Heading into Game 5, Lakers coach Frank Vogel warned sternly that a team without its star could be dangerous.
"There's plenty of other firepower on their team that could beat us, and it could even be a letdown type of situation," Vogel said last week.
That seemed to be coming to fruition in the first half. Without Lillard, the Lakers couldn't stop McCollum. The guard made his first four shots and scored 21 points in the first half, with Anthony adding 18. The Lakers' once-stifling defense became porous, allowing the Trail Blazers to score 68 points in the first half.
At halftime, the score was tied, though, mostly because of James' sheer force of will.
The Lakers star showed an intensity that was otherwise lacking from his teammates. He scored 24 first-half points on 10-for-13 shooting with five assists. James made two three-pointers in the half, including one just before the second-quarter buzzer, which tied the game.
Davis excelled in the third quarter. He scored 20 points during that quarter, making three of four three-pointers. The Lakers put together a 13-0 run during that period to give themselves a 14-point lead. But it didn't last.
Portland, unwilling to be quietly eliminated, chipped away little by little, and early in the fourth quarter it tied the score at 100.
Back-to-back steals by Alex Caruso finally helped the Lakers build a bit of a cushion. The second led to an alley-oop from Danny Green to Davis, which gave the Lakers a nine-point lead. On the next possession, Davis took a pass from James and scored again.
Portland only had three minutes of playing time to overcome that 11-point deficit, and it proved too much.
