If the playoff series between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers were a boxing match it would be time for Terry Stotts to throw in the towel following a 135-115 loss Monday in Game 4.

Of course, the Blazers coach wouldn’t and couldn’t do such a thing, and the team certainly will show up for Game 5 on Wednesday. But this series is as over as a 3-1 series has ever been.

Portland, the No. 8 seed, losing to the No. 1 seeded Lakers was virtually a foregone conclusion, despite NBA commentators falling all over themselves for about a week trying to convince the world that the Blazers could pull off the upset, or at least make things interesting.

The reality is that the Lakers are superior. Far superior. And a better team is exposing all of the Blazers’ weaknesses that they were able to mask during the seeding games.

What’s happening is no different than when Golden State swept the Blazers in 2019. Once Portland comes into contact with an upper echelon team, its deficiencies become magnified.

That’s not to knock the 2019-2020 Blazers, who saved their season by simply reaching the playoffs given all of the turmoil they’ve had to deal with this season.

Jusuf Nurkic missed every game before the restart. Zach Collins went down in the first week of the season. The Blazers lost Rodney Hood to an Achilles injury. Trevor Ariza elected not to go to the bubble.

And now they are without their star.

Damian Lillard underwent a second MRI on Tuesday that revealed a right knee sprain, the team announced. He has been ruled out for Game 5 on Wednesday. Lillard injured his knee in the third quarter of Game 4 on Monday.

He played for a couple of minutes after the injury before leaving the game.

The fact that Lillard is the driving force that keeps the Blazers relevant is also a sign of how fragile Portland’s status as winners truly is.

The Blazers went 35-39 this season with Lillard having arguably his best season ever. Not having Nurkic until the restart certainly hurt. Nevertheless, there has never been a season in Lillard’s career that made it so obvious that Portland must find another star.

Even if it means making a wild trade that costs the team several assets and sets back the organization a year, gaining a second star must be the top priority.

Otherwise, Portland will never matchup with a team like the Lakers and become true contenders.

LeBron James and Anthony Davis are absolutely killing Portland. This series would have been a sweep if not for the Lakers’ shooters doing 5 of 32 (15.6%) from three-point range in Game 1. Once Los Angeles straightened out that issue, it was a wrap.

The Blazers best player is the third best player on the court each night and far smaller at 6-foot-2 compared to the 6-8 James and 6-10 Davis.

Stotts after the game, in which the Lakers began by jumping out to a 15-0 lead, was asked what the Blazers must do to get back into the series.

He responded by stating that they needed to play 48 good minutes of good basketball.

The problem is, even that wouldn’t matter in terms of winning the series unless the Lakers played 48 lesser minutes at least four times.

The Blazers simply do not matchup. As good as Lillard and McCollum are, they have trouble getting their shots for 48 minutes against larger players that the Lakers have been throwing at them in waves. On the defensive end, both struggle guarding those same larger players.

Nurkic, as good as he is, is not on the level of Davis, who had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists in 18 minutes. Carmelo Anthony, 36, has been solid, but the Blazers need a guy like the 28-year-old version of Anthony. McCollum can score, but at 6-3 he is a liability on defense beside Lillard, and neither are big enough to get inside and make things happen on a consistent basis.

Ariza, who opted out of the bubble, and the injured Hood could have helped, but they aren’t difference makers. They are role players that could help enhance a team that already has enough difference makers.

Gary Trent Jr., Zach Collins and Anfernee Simons all have potential, but will they pull it together in time to help Lillard win before his abilities start to fade?

All of these pieces would be fantastic if there were another player on the team on par with Lillard and between 6-6 and 6-10.

“I thought we did compete,” McCollum said. “We just have to start games better and make them play in the half court.”

Limiting the Lakers from getting into transition would certainly help the Blazers’ cause. But not enough to change the outcome because, as McCollum admitted, the Lakers were getting whatever shot they wanted offensively. That included in half-court sets.

The Lakers shot 56.3% from the field and 43.6% from three-point range. Once they got rolling, Portland had no chance of slowing them down.

Portland guard Damian Lillard has a sprained right knee and will be sidelined Wednesday when the Trail Blazers play a win-or-else Western Conference first-round game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Blazers trail the best-of-seven series 3-1, and now will play without their leading scorer.

Lillard got hurt while driving to the basket and drawing a foul with 7:16 left in the third quarter of Monday’s game against the Lakers. The knee seemed to buckle as Lillard made an awkward landing and he was clearly limping as he made his way to the foul line.

During a time-out that was called about a minute later, Lillard briefly made his way into an area of the arena that isn’t visible from the court. He returned to the bench before the time-out was over and remained in the game for about another minute, before departing for good with 5:18 left in the third.

An MRI performed Monday night was inconclusive, prompting the Blazers to schedule the second one Tuesday — after which the sprain was diagnosed.

No grade for the sprain was provided. Recovery time, depending on the severity and type of sprain, could be weeks or months.