The Los Angeles Lakers finally ended their season and they did so in competitive fashion. It took a buzzer-beater from Portland’s Maurice Harkless to send the Lakers into the offseason on Tuesday night, putting the Trail Blazers ahead 104-101.
On the same night that Lakers President Magic Johnson stepped down from the position, the Lakers fought hard and gave the top-seeded Blazers a game. Thanks to Harkless, the Blazers are guaranteed to have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Damian Lillard had 20 points and eight assists while Harkless had a team-high 26 points. Enes Kanter had 22 points and 16 rebounds.
While Portland had several good games in their favor, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the only Laker to score over 16 points as the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent scored a game-high 32 points.
The Trail Blazers will host a playoff game on either Saturday or Sunday while the Lakers head into the offseason once again scouting the draft and hoping to land a free agent, but they have to find a new leader for their basketball operations before they can do any of that.
