Lakers player grades: Luka's 53 points give Lakers fourth straight win

The first time the Los Angeles Lakers met the Portland Trail Blazers this season, which was on Oct. 27, the two teams engaged in a shootout that ended in a 136-129 loss for the Lakers. On Friday, both squads met again at Crypto.com Arena, and this game had a different feel, at least for much of the evening. The Lakers had lots of trouble hitting shots early on, especially from long distance. They missed each of their first 14 3-point attempts and fell behind 51-35 about midway through the second quarter. But they ended the half down by just seven points, and from there, they turned up their defense. L.A.'s defense held Portland to just 15 points in the third quarter, and L.A. scored 17 unanswered points in the period to take a 78-68 lead. While Portland was able to come to within four points with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter off three straight Lakers turnovers, the Purple and Gold were able to stand tall and come away with a 124-118 victory to improve to an 8-2 record. While Portland shot 51.4% from the field and 44.2% from 3-point range, it committed 24 turnovers, leading to 28 points off turnovers for Los Angeles. For a change, Los Angeles had a six-point advantage in second-chance points thanks to 17 offensive rebounds and a plus-three advantage overall on the boards. The Lakers are now 1-1 in NBA Cup group play and rank third in West Group C. Their next group play contest will take place on Nov. 20 at home against the Sacramento Kings. Matisse Thybulle: C-minus In 24 minutes of playing time, Thybulle attempted just one shot, which he missed. But he did come up with three steals, which helped the Lakers come through on the defensive end and turn this game around. In his spare time, Thybulle also got two rebounds. Jake LaRavia: B-plus LaRavia scored seven points in 25 minutes on 2-of-5 overall shooting and 2-of-3 from 3-point range, but he made a tangible impact in other areas. His hustle stood out on this night, and it resulted in him grabbing eight rebounds, with five of them coming on the offensive glass. He also helped keep the ball alive on the offensive boards even when he didn't get a rebound, and that helped L.A. capitalize on second-chance possessions. The forward also had three assists and one steal, and it is looking like coach JJ Redick's decision to move him into the starting lineup was a smart one. Walker Kessler: B-plus/A-minus Kessler did a good job of catching and finishing in the paint, and his teammates were looking for him often, either on passes over the top or on short passes deep in the paint. He scored 16 points on 7-of-10 field-goal shooting and 2-of-3 from the free throw line, and he also grabbed 12 rebounds while adding two assists and one steal. While Kessler didn't have any blocked shots, his defensive impact was still felt, as evidenced by the fact that the Lakers held a 52-32 edge in points in the paint. Austin Reaves: C Reaves missed his first seven 3-point tries and didn't hit one until the 5:25 mark of the fourth quarter. It was his only successful 3-pointer of the game, but he was fairly successful on 2-point attempts, and he ended up with 25 points on 8-of-22 overall shooting. In the final 1:25 of the game, he scored seven points to help secure the victory. Two of those points came off a steal and a breakaway hoop with 24 seconds to go. He also had three rebounds, two assists and four steals, and even better, he turned the ball over just twice. Luka Doncic: A Doncic continues to be in volcano mode early this season, and he is making each scoring outburst look like just another day at the office. He got off to a slow start and shot just 4-of-11 in the first quarter, but he started to find the range in the second quarter. He sacrificed his body by taking a charge on Deni Avdija with 39 seconds left in the period. Moments later, he tossed in a prayer from well beyond midcourt to end the first half with 20 points. That moon shot seemed to get him going, as he scored 20 points in the third period and put the Lakers ahead. He kept producing points down the stretch, and he finished with 53 points, a new season-high for him, on 17-of-33 field-goal shooting and 14-of-18 from the free throw line. This was the fourth straight game and the sixth time in his last seven games he has reached the 40-point mark. As excellent as he was last season, he has seemingly propelled himself to an even more stratospheric level this season. Doncic also had five rebounds, five assists and one steal. On a baseline inbound pass with just under a minute left in the game, he found Kessler under the hoop for an alley-oop dunk that gave Los Angeles a six-point lead. Ziaire Williams: B-plus Along with LaRavia, Williams was the only player on the Lakers who was efficient from beyond the arc tonight. He made two of his four 3-point attempts and shot 3-of-5 overall to score eight points, while adding three rebounds, two steals and one assist in 20 minutes off the bench. Sandro Mamukelashvili: C Mamukelashvili made just two of his six shot attempts and scored seven points, to go along with three rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block in 20 minutes. Quentin Grimes: D Grimes is barely producing points, and he hasn't been looking for his shot much either. On Friday, he went 1-of-3 from the field and missed both of his attempts from 3-point land, and he finished with two points and two steals in 20 minutes. As well as Doncic is playing, the Lakers will eventually need more production from players other than him and Reaves, and Grimes is arguably the best candidate to help in that regard, given his past production. Collin Sexton: D-minus Sexton is another Lakers player who can step up a lot offensively and needs to step up, but hasn't lately. Against Portland, he missed all four of his shot attempts and went scoreless in 11 minutes. His only positive contribution on the stat sheet was one assist. Adou Thiero: B Thiero made his regular-season debut on Friday after missing the Lakers' first seven games with a knee ailment. He scored his first basket of the season on an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Doncic, and on the team's next offensive possession, he had another dunk on a putback after Doncic had a layup attempt blocked. The second-year forward finished with four points on 2-of-4 shooting, four rebounds and two assists in seven minutes.