Lakers vs Trail Blazers Game 5 Odds and Picks

• The Los Angeles Lakers cruised to a 3-1 series lead with a blowout in Game 4
• Damian Lillard has been ruled out with a knee sprain for Saturday’s affair
• Get the latest odds, betting discussion and a pick for Game 5

The Los Angeles Lakers have won three games on the bounce after losing Game 1 to the Portland Trail Blazers. LAL are one game away from a place in the second round.

Banged up, the Portland Trail Blazers were blown away by the Lakers in Game 4. They immediately went down 10-0 to start the game and they never looked like staging much of a comeback. Damian Lillard is out with a knee sprain, CJ McCollum is playing through a back fracture,  and Jusuf Nurkic is looking heavy-footed.

The latest Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers odds heavily favor LA to take the series in Game 5.

Portland Trail Blazers vs Los Angeles Lakers Game 5 Odds

Odds taken August 28th

No Answer for LeBron

Hassan Whiteside and Nurkic have started together in the last two games as Portland tried to counter the Lakers’ size. It didn’t work. Whiteside and Nurkic harmed Portland’s spacing, taking away driving lanes for McCollum and Lillard.

The Lakers have taken down plenty of offensive rebounds in this series, and they grabbed 12 more in Game 4. Whiteside and Nurkic as a duo has made them too easy to attack of the dribble.

Terry Stotts is in a horrible position. He doesn’t have the personnel to matchup with this Lakers team, and particularly with LeBron James. James scored 30 in 28 minutes, shooting over 80% from the field in Game 4. He had 10 assists, bringing out his full passing repertoire.

Gary Trent Jr. has been feisty on the defensive end, but he’s neither tall enough nor strong enough to live with LeBron. Carmelo Anthony can be competitive in the post, but he gets blown by when LeBron puts it on the floor. Anfernee Simons ended up guarding James on occasion. It went just as anyone would expect.

The Game 4 preview discussed the importance of LeBron being aggressive. He was exactly that from tip-off in Game 5. The Blazers had no answer.

Injuries Hold Back Blazers

Absences have been the story of Portland’s season. Nurkic and Zach Collins were injured, leaving them fighting for the eight seed. Rodney Hood only played 21 games before an Achilles injury ruled him out.

McCollum has played through pain with a back fracture and now Lillard will be out with the season on the line.

Another look at Damian Lillard's non-contact knee injury pic.twitter.com/263IjR9C3e

— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) August 25, 2020

Lillard claimed the dislocated finger wasn’t bothering him, but he left Game 4 with a knee injury. After his MRI on Tuesday discovered a knee sprain, he was officially ruled out.

With no Lillard, the Blazers become a much less scary prospect. Portland has needed a big games from Lillard to be able to compete with the Lakers.

Series to Finish on Wednesday

What promised to be a cracker of a series has waned into a bit of a walk over. Without Lillard, the Blazers could be facing another blow out on Wednesday. Injuries have, sadly, been  holding them back all season, but there are also roster construction issues at play. Portland is an offense-first team and they have come up against an elite defense.

With each stop comes an opportunity for the Lakers to run in transition. They have been able to get so many easy buckets and expose the Blazers’ defense, which ranked 28th in the regular season.

Anthony Davis’ back spasms were a brief concern for Frank Vogel, but Davis said he will be fine. The Lakers can afford to be careful with their prized asset on Wednesday – this should be another easy win.

Pick: Los Angeles Lakers -13.5 (-110)