Lonzo Ball Struggles Mightily in Lakers' 113-110 Loss to Trail Blazers

Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers may have a bright future, but the present belonged to Damian Lillard during Thursday's showdown at the Moda Center.

Lillard drilled the game-winning three-pointer over Brandon Ingram and led his Portland Trail Blazers to a 113-110 home victory. His triple answered a three from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope that tied the contest on the previous possession, and Kyle Kuzma's attempt at the buzzer was short.

Lillard finished with 32 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Jusuf Nurkic added 28 points and CJ McCollum chipped in 22.

Ball went scoreless in the high-profile matchup, but Brook Lopez (27 points) and Kuzma (22 points) carried the Lakers.

Ball Overshadowed by Frontcourt

Ball figures to be tested throughout his rookie campaign after he entered the league with so much hype, and the battle with Portland's dynamic backcourt duo looked to be the primary storyline.

Instead, the rookie was nowhere to be found for extended stretches, missing both of his field-goal attempts and failing to match either Trail Blazers guard. He dished out four assists and grabbed three boards, but Lopez and Kuzma overshadowed him.

At least one of his assists to Lopez turned heads:

"Definitely could have been more aggressive," Ball admitted after the loss, per ESPN.com's Ohm Youngmisuk. "I was coming off, [Portland's] big man was sagging so Brook [Lopez] was open."

The other Lakers proved their mettle in crunch time, as Lopez's three gave them the lead with less than five minutes left, Kuzma's running hook gave them the lead with less than a minute left and Caldwell-Pope's triple tied the score with 16 seconds remaining.

They were all forced to take on more responsibilities after Larry Nance Jr. fractured the first metacarpal in his left thumb, an injury Lakers reporter Mike Trudell noted.

Lopez and Kuzma may have done the most damage, but that didn't stop the Portland crowd from homing in on the rookie:

Ball was a non-factor on the offensive side, so attention turned to his defensive approach. Entering Thursday's matchup, the Lakers' defensive rating was 102.8 with Ball on the court and an impressive 93.6 when he was off, per NBA.com, and they couldn't hide him on the weaker guard against Portland, considering Lillard and McCollum are both daunting matchups.

Ball defended both Lillard and McCollum for stretches and finished with two blocks and a steal. One block on Lillard at the rim when it appeared the point guard had a step stood out:

If there was a silver lining to Ball's performance, it was the effort he flashed at times on defense. However, the Lakers will need him to be less passive if he is going to live up to the hype.

Lillard Takes Over Crunch Time

Lillard's three will stand out, but his ability to slice through defenders and get to the line helped Portland bounce back from a lackluster middle portion of the game.

The home team drilled its first six three-pointers and held a 41-25 lead after a quarter, but subpar defense allowed the Lakers to climb back into the game. Lillard gave his team the lead back in the third and connected with all 14 of his free-throw attempts on the night.

One reason the lane was consistently open was the defense's hesitation to leave Nurkic open, who proved a problem for the Lakers frontcourt throughout and was way too much for Julius Randle on multiple possessions in the fourth quarter with the game hanging in the balance:

In the end, though, one side had Lillard while the other one is in the midst of a rebuild.

Lillard and the Trail Blazers will look to parlay their victory into momentum against Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.

The Lakers will be right back at it Friday against the Brooklyn Nets, which will give L.A. fans the opportunity to see Ball battle with Los Angeles' former "point guard of the future" in D'Angelo Russell.