Portland's Summer League Cinderella Run Ends With Loss To Lakers In Tournament Final

The Portland Trail Blazers, as the 16-seed in the Las Vegas Summer League tournament, had a daunting road to the final versus the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center on the campus of UNLV. They had to beat the top-seeded Raptors, a Spurs team that soundly beat them a few days prior and the Grizzlies, a team that had not yet tasted defeat in Las Vegas, to make it to Monday’s final. Portland found themselves trailing by double digits in more than one of those games, only to extend their tournament run by rallying in the second half. But winning that way can take a toll, especially when there’s little for recuperation in between games. So while it might have been disappointing, it wasn’t necessarily surprising to see the Trail Blazers, playing their sixth game in seven days, fade in the second half of Monday’s game before eventually falling 110-98 to the Lakers in the summer league tournament final. “I was telling them after the game this is my first coaching experience, I haven’t coached high school or anything,” said assistant coach Jim Moran, who has been acting head coach during summer league. “To be in that locker room and see a group of guys who have only been together for two weeks, to see them actually care about each other and compete at that level, it was a lot of fun for me. I just thanked them for the opportunity because they were a great group to coach.”