Damian Lillard (left) and Devin Booker delivered as their teams won on the road at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday.

LOS ANGELES – Five takeaways from the Portland Trail Blazers’ 106-104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns’ 112-95 victory over the LA Clippers at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday:

1. ‘Dame is back’

Shortly after the ball dropped into the basket, Blazers guard Damian Lillard tapped his left wrist to signal a welcome return.

After playing only a combined 29 games last season before and after having abdominal surgery, Lillard indicated that ‘Dame Time’ is back. After making a 3-pointer that gave Portland a 104-102 lead with 12.4 seconds left, Lillard capped off a 41-point performance with stellar shooting from the field (15-for-25) and from deep (6-for-13).

“Dame is back,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said, “and is pretty much putting the league on notice.”

Lillard has guided Portland to a 3-0 record by averaging 30.5 points per game, which ranks eighth in the NBA. Even when accounting for the small sample size, Lillard credited his productive output both to his offseason rehab and family time.

“My time away, I let it be my time away,” Lillard said. “I wasn’t coming back into it like I have to prove myself.”

Lillard has not just proven his value through scoring.

The six-time All-Star served as a decoy on the Blazers’ final possession that ended with Jerami Grant making a layup to give Portland a 106-104 lead with three seconds left. Lillard defended Lakers star LeBron James on the next play when he missed an 18-foot fadeaway as time expired. And in Portland’s overtime victory over Phoenix two days earlier, Lillard drew a double team before setting up Anfernee Simons for the game-winning basket. 

“Dame started the season letting the game come to him,” Billups said. “He’s not one of those aggressive, ‘Every time I touch it, I want to score’ type of players. Dame usually makes the proper play. We’re much better when he’s aggressive. But being aggressive doesn’t mean shooting.”

2. Lakers’ still struggling from deep

The Lakers have labored to an 0-3 start mostly because they rank last in 3-point shooting (21.2%). It took L.A. more than seven minutes to make a 3-pointer after missing its first five from beyond the arc. The Lakers missed all nine of their 3-points attempts in the second quarter. Once Patrick Beverley made the team’s second 3-pointer with 8:37 left in the third quarter, Lakers fans gave a dramatic standing ovation.

“We can’t shoot a penny in the ocean,” James said. “But it hasn’t stopped us from competing. It hasn’t stopped us from defending.”

True. James (31 points) and Davis (22 points, 10 rebounds, six blocks) played with the poise and aggressiveness the Lakers need from their stars. The Lakers stayed disciplined defensively by forcing turnovers (19) and collecting steals (nine). And despite their 6-for-33 mark from 3-point range, the Lakers remained consistent with their ball movement (26 assists), paint presence (66 points) and free-throw shooting (16-for-20).

“There’s no way you’re supposed to lose this game,” Davis said.

The Lakers did, though, mostly because of their outside shooting. James (2-for-9), Lonnie Walker IV (1-for-5), Davis (0-for-3), Russell Westbrook (0-for-3), Kendrick Nunn (0-for-3) and Troy Brown Jr. (0-for-2) all missed open looks.

It appears unrealistic the Lakers can compensate their poor outside shooting with stellar defense and offensive teamwork. The modern NBA requires good teams at least to be serviceable from deep. The Lakers are far from that. If they don’t solve those issues soon, the Lakers could collect more losses this week in Denver (Wednesday) and Minnesota (Friday).

3. Westbrook’s crunch-time woes 

With the Lakers holding a 98-90 lead with 4:42 left, the Blazers made a key defensive adjustment. Once Westbrook entered the game, the Blazers assigned center Jusuf Nurkic on Westbrook.

“We were just going to kind of play off of Russ,” Billups said.

Russell Westbrook talks to the media after finishing with 10 points, 6 boards, and 6 assists against the Blazers. pic.twitter.com/dnPYMLVo94

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 23, 2022

Essentially, the Blazers determined the best way to defend Westbrook was not to defend him. They dared Westbrook to take uncontested shots, allowing Portland to clog the Lakers’ spacing and keep Nurkic close to the basket for rebounds.

That worked as Portland closed out the game with a 16-6 run … and plenty of it had to do with Westbrook’s crunch-time issues.

After granting Westbrook an open 3-pointer, Nurkic rebounded the missed shot. Lillard then made a 3-pointer to cut the Lakers’ lead to 98–95 with 2:58 left. Nurkic then grabbed a rebound off Beverley’s missed 3-pointer before finishing with a putback off Jerami Grant’s blocked dunk. Nurkic cleaned the glass again after James misfired from deep. Simons then made a floater to cut Portland’s deficit to 102-101 with 36.1 seconds remaining.

Westbrook made another costly mistake on the next play, taking a 15-foot jumper with plenty of time in the game (27.3 seconds) and on the shot clock (18) as L.A. held a 102-101 lead.

Westbrook said he took the shot early in hopes of securing a 2-for-1 opportunity. Though he said he understood Westbrook’s logic, Lakers coach Darvin Ham said he “just wished he would’ve attacked the rim directly.” Ham subbed Austin Reaves for Westbrook in the final 12.4 seconds, a choice the Lakers’ coach said did not talk about with Westbrook.

“We don’t have time for feelings or for people to be in their feelings,” Ham said. “We’re trying to turn this thing around.”

Ham still played Westbrook for most of crunch time, which coincided with the Lakers squandering an eight-point lead.

4. Suns’ Booker taking flight

Suns guard Devin Booker has already proven his worth with three consecutive NBA All-Star appearances (2020-22). But Booker’s early returns suggest he may take his game even higher this season.

Booker finished with 35 points while shooting prolifically from the field (13-for-21), from 3-point range (5-for-9) and from the free-throw line (4-for-4). He also fared well in a win against Dallas (28 points) and an overtime loss to Portland (33 points). Suns coach Monty Williams said some of that play traces back to Booker’s offseason workouts with teammate Chris Paul, which began shortly after the Suns lost to Dallas in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.

“We all still feel the pain with the way we went out. That can still drive you,” Williams said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to win it. But it certainly will motivate you to work on the things you need to work on.”

5. Paul reaches another milestone

Paul joined John Stockton and Jason Kidd as the only NBA players to collect at least 11,000 career assists. Paul achieved the feat in front of various family members in Los Angeles.

“I’m privileged,” Paul said. “Just studying the game and my teammates.”

With this lob to Deandre Ayton, Chris Paul has become only the third player in NBA history to ever record 11,000 or more assists!

He joins John Stockton and Jason Kidd. pic.twitter.com/aPRkWDnuXG

— NBA (@NBA) October 24, 2022

Paul then thanked various teammates during his stops with New Orleans (David West, Tyson Chandler, Peja Stojaković), the Clippers (Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, JJ Redick), Houston (James Harden) and Phoenix (Booker, Deandre Ayton).

Paul achieved the milestone after throwing a lob to Ayton with 10:49 left in the first quarter.

“When there’s actually a current player in the league with you on your team chewing you out, it feels good to be a part of that,” Ayton said. “You see where the hard work goes. He’s someone I highly respect.”

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Mark Medina is a senior writer/analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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