Much to Charles Barkley’s dismay, the Portland Trailblazers are not going to sweep the Lakers. Los Angeles took a 2-1 lead Saturday night after downing Portland, 116-108. So far, there’s been a lot to take in. Break open the old Five Star and let’s take some notes:

• AD has to dominate down low. Nurkic and Whiteside are good defenders, but Davis is too talented and too strong to hang out on the wings trying to be a spot-up shooter. His efficiency from midrange was impressive but not something he should be relying on.

• In Games 1 & 2, LeBron has been too passive. Game 3 was the first time in a while we’ve seen Bron really put his head down and score the ball without any second-guessing or hesitation. His 3-ball looked great Saturday night, which will be monumental for the team if it continues to fall consistently.

• Damian Lillard is one of the league’s best players. He’s doing an outstanding job of willing this Blazers team to success, and there’s honestly not much LAL can do to stop him. That said, guys like CJ McCollum and Carmelo Anthony having big games is a bigger threat to the Lakers. There were streaks tonight and in earlier games where the Blazers’ 2nd and 3rd best players entered the zone and LA basically had no answer for them. Even if Lillard drops 60, the Lakers have a better shot of winning by making Lillard the only real danger to them.

• This has been a pretty physical series. Although a lot of calls went towards the Lakers in Game 3, there has been a TON of fouling in this series in general. There’s no room to even blame the refs for all of the fouls because both teams have played sloppy and physical D that is rightfully sending the other team to the charity stripe.

• Extending on that, the Lakers missed fifteen free throws in Game 3. They were able to get to the line an astounding 43 times, but couldn’t capitalize once they got there.

• Gary Trent Jr. has been an underrated threat on defense. He’s scrappy, intrusive, and downright annoying. His steals and full-court pickups on Bron and Caruso have been hugely effective for Portland.

• Kuzma is LA’s X-Factor. He’s an overlooked threat on offense and has been getting important rebounds on the other side. The Lakers need Kuzma to be a big factor on offense from here on out if they’re going to win the Finals.

• Where are JR and Dion? Albeit late additions to the team, JR Smith and Dion Waiters have been nonexistent on the floor. They’ve played a combined 47 minutes for the entire series. I think the team could really be using them, especially on runs with LeBron and AD on the bench.

• Nurkic is a very, very good basketball player and a fringe top-5 center. However, he could NOT keep up at the end of Game 3 and looked absolutely gassed. He has to find more stamina because the rest of this series will probably come down to the final minutes of each game.