Lillard's Late 3 Keeps the Blazers Unbeaten Despite Luka Doncic's 41

By The Arena Staff

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27, 2026 — Luka Doncic did almost everything he could. Portland just had more people to throw at him, and one of them was Damian Lillard.

Lillard hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Deni Avdija with 42.8 seconds left to put Portland up six, and the Trail Blazers held on to beat the Los Angeles Lakers 136-129 on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. Portland is 3-0 under new coach Micah Nori, the franchise's second 3-0 start in the last 15 years, according to the Associated Press. The Lakers lost for the first time and fell to 3-1.

The Blazers won with balance. Ja Morant and Avdija scored 23 apiece, Jrue Holiday had 22 off the bench and Lillard added 21. The NBA's official account noted that the four of them combined for 89 of Portland's 136 points. Morant was 9 of 13 from the field and hit midrange jumpers on back-to-back possessions late to push the lead to five, before Lillard finished it with his fourth 3-pointer of the night.

The 36-year-old Lillard scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter and went 3 of 4 from deep in the period, the Los Angeles Times reported, a big closing stretch on a night when he missed four free throws. Portland shot 59% from the field and 18 of 36 from 3-point range, went 7 of 10 from deep in the fourth and closed on a 15-8 run.

"It was also an incredible shot-making game," Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

Doncic finished with 41 points, nine assists and six 3-pointers two nights after scoring 52 at Utah, and he led a fourth-quarter comeback after Portland went up eight early in the period. Austin Reaves added 26 points, and Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 17, including a buzzer-beating 3 that gave Los Angeles a 73-68 halftime lead.

Reaves pointed to the other end of the floor. Portland went to the line 41 times. "We did enough offensively to win the game," he told the Times. "Defensively, we weren't good."

The Lakers visit the Clippers on Wednesday night. Portland hosts Memphis on Thursday.

Sources: AP via NBA.com, Los Angeles Times and the NBA on X.