With Schroder back, Lakers beat Blazers to snap skid
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James had 28 points, Dennis Schroder added 22 in his return to the Lakers’ lineup, and Los Angeles snapped its four-game losing streak with a 102-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
Montrezl Harrell had 17 points, while James added 11 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and three blocked shots as the defending NBA champions avoided their longest losing streak since March 2019.
The fresh-legged Schroder was outstanding after a four-game absence under the NBA’s health and safety protocols, scoring 13 points in the second half and leading the Lakers’ decisive surge on both ends of the court.
“His energy alone gives us a spark,” James said of Schroder. “His competitive nature gives us a spark. To have him back in our lineup just means so much to our team. It was big-time.”
Los Angeles pushed ahead in the third quarter and hung on comfortably for only its second win since losing All-Star selection Anthony Davis to a calf injury 12 days ago.
Damian Lillard scored 24 of his 35 points in the first half for the Blazers, who lost their fourth straight. Portland committed 16 turnovers while losing to the Lakers at Staples Center for the first time since November 2018.
“Tonight was about our offense,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “There’s always room to improve defensively, but the Lakers did a really good job of being aggressive on us, creating turnovers in the third
quarter, and we weren’t able to capitalize on some of the opportunities that we did have.”
After the game, James forcefully responded to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s criticism of his political activism with a promise that he will never just shut up and dribble.
The AC Milan striker and former LA Galaxy star criticized James and other socially conscious athletes Thursday in an interview with Discovery Plus. Ibrahimovic called it “a mistake” for James and other athletes to get involved in political causes, saying they should “just do what you do best, because it doesn’t look good.”
“I would never shut up about things that are wrong,” James said while also pointing out that Ibrahimovic called out racism in his native Sweden just three years ago.
“I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social injustice, racism, systematic voter suppression, things that go on in our community,”
James said. “… There’s no way I would ever just stick to sports, because I understand how powerful this platform and my voice is.”