The Portland Trail Blazers needed to find a way to generate consistent offense against the Los Angeles Lakers in order to avoid losing Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

For two quarters Saturday night, Portland accomplished that goal and led 57-53 at halftime. Then in the second half, the Lakers defense, which held the Blazers to 188 points over the first two games, put the clamps down. Portland managed just 22 points in the fourth quarter and fell 116-108.

Leading the way at both ends for the Lakers, now up 2-1, was LeBron James, who nearly had his second triple double of the series. James finished with 38 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

Portland’s Damian Lillard and Carmelo Anthony put a positive spin on the loss, and rightfully so. Each pointed out that it’s still early in the series and the Blazers are only down one game.

“We’re sitting in a good situation,” Anthony said. “We’re not concerned…We’ll be ready Game 4.”

IT WAS OVER WHEN…

The Blazers trailed just 93-90 early in the fourth quarter before the Lakers pushed their lead to 105-96 with 5:30 on the clock. Anthony Davis scored the final six points of that run.

Maybe no sequence better defined this game than the following:

The Lakers led 109-100 with 2:07 remaining when James bulled his way through the Blazers’ defense to score a layup to give Los Angeles a 111-100 lead.

On Portland’s next possession, Gary Trent Jr. had his three-point shot blocked by Danny Green but recovered the ball and took a shot in the key that was blocked by Davis. Trent again recovered the ball and passed out to Lillard, who attempted a three-pointer that was blocked by Green out of bounds. Then CJ McCollum missed a layup.

Back at the other end, James sank a three to make the score 114-100 with 58.1 seconds remaining.

LILLARD’S FINGER

Lillard played with a splint on his left index finger, which he dislocated in Game 2. The injury clearly didn’t have a huge impact on his scoring abilities. He scored 34 points and had seven assists.

However, he said the pain certainly was present. At times, he said, the discomfort made him alter how he gathered the ball before a shot and how he dribbled.

“I did as much treatment as I could,” Lillard said. “I tried to just ignore it. Once you decided to step out there, it is what it is. You’ve got to go out there and do what you’ve got to do.”

SHOWED UP AND SHOWED OUT

Lillard and McCollum off the bat found their stroke and scored from a variety of areas on the court. Lillard made 5 of 11 three-pointers. McCollum had 22 through three quarters and finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and four assists. He made 12 of 25 shots.

Anthony, who went 1 of 5 in Game 2, had a huge third quarter and finished with 20 points on the night.

James, who scored just 10 points in Game 2, was more aggressive offensively in this game than the prior two. He scored 22 points in the first half and finished with a near triple-double.

“I expected that, for him to come out the way he did,” Anthony said regarding his good friend’s aggressiveness offensively.

Davis had just six points in the first half on 1 of 3 shooting but scored 11 in the third and finished with 29 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists.

“Davis got it going from the perimeter especially in the second half,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said. “For the most part, our objective is to keep him out of the paint…he played really well. Just like in Game 2, when he’s making his perimeter shot, that just opens up the game for him.”

SHOWED UP AND FIZZLED

Portland center Jusuf Nurkic has not had a strong scoring series. In Game 3 he managed only 10 points with seven rebounds. Through three games he is averaging 11.7 points and 10 rebounds and is shooting just 38.7 percent from the field.

Portland, who shot 39.2 percent in Game 1 and 40 percent in Game 2, shot 41.1 percent on Saturday.

FREE THROW DISCREPANCY

A major storyline in this game was the free throw discrepancy. The Lakers made 28 of 43 while Portland made 18 of 19.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a game where it was that big,” Stotts said. “It certainly had an impact in the first half when I think the differential was 23. That had an impact on the game.”

Lillard said that they wanted to be more physical in Game 3 after the Lakers’ physicality made huge difference in their 111-88 win in Game 2.

“Maybe we did foul, but they are a physical team, as well,” Lillard said. “When a team is living at the free throw line like they did tonight, as a team, it’s going to be hard to win a game against a team that’s as good as they are.”

However, the fouls calls were similar. Portland was called for 25 compared to 21 for the Lakers.

BENCH DIFFERENCE

The Blazers started center Hassan Whiteside instead of Wenyen Gabriel in place of the injured Zach Collins (ankle surgery) and that move had a big impact on Portland’s bench production.

Portland’s reserves of Gabriel, Trent, Anfernee Simons and Mario Hezonja scored a combined five points with two rebounds and one assist. The combined to shoot 2 of 12 from the field.

The Lakers’ bench produced 24 points and 18 rebounds and made 8 of 19 shots.

ANFERNEE SIMONS STRUGGLES

Simons had a strong Game 2 after the game was out of reach and that earned him more minutes early in Game 3. Unfortunately for Portland, he didn’t take advantage. Simons, in 14 minutes, missed all four of his shots, including three three-point attempts, to finish with zero points. He committed four fouls.

Stotts said that the decision to play Simons early was to help ignite the offense, which struggled in the first two games.

“Ant is a good shooter, even though he didn’t shoot well tonight,” Stotts said.

NEXT UP

Game 4: Monday, 6 p.m. PT/9 p.m. ET, TNT

— Aaron Fentress 5/8 afentress@Oregonian.com 5/8 @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook).

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