NBA playoffs: Davis leads Lakers to bounce-back win over Blazers

Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers looked vulnerable in Game 1 of their playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers, but bounced back to rout the No. 8 seed in Game 2 behind a strong effort from Anthony Davis.

Davis scored a game-high 31 points and had 11 rebounds in the 111-88 win Thursday in Orlando, Fla., to help his squad even the first-round Western Conference series at 1-1.

"I knew I could be better on both ends of the floor," Davis told reporters. "I wanted to come out with the mindset to be aggressive and do whatever I had to do to help us get the win."

LeBron James had 10 points, seven assists and six rebounds in the win. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 16 points for the Lakers.

"It's just one game," James said. "We wanted to execute for 48 minutes. ... We knew we couldn't have as many defensive lapses and breakdowns coming into this game, no matter the score, which would give us a chance of winning."

The Lakers held the Blazers to just 35% shooting in the first half and Davis scored 21 points to spark a 56-39 lead at the break. Los Angeles pushed the lead to 88-58 by the end of the third quarter. The Lakers led by as many as 32 points.

J.R. Smith came off the Lakers bench to score 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Blazers guard Damian Lillard scored 18 points and made just one of his seven 3-point attempts in the loss. C.J. McCollum scored 13 points for Portland.

Lillard -- the NBA Bubble MVP -- dislocated the index finger on his left hand during the loss, but expects to play in the next game of the series.

The Blazers face the Lakers in Game 3 at 8:30 p.m. EDT Saturday in Orlando.

"We just got outplayed," Lillard said. "We came out and won the first game so it's natural for them to come out and be a little more aggressive and have more fight. We didn't come out relaxed, they just went after it harder than we did."