The Portland Trail Blazers are getting ready for their next matchup against Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers in Tinseltown.

The Blazers have an unusual gap in the schedule between their last game against the Sacramento Kings on the road Friday night and their next game on Tuesday in a nationally televised contest. However, it is giving them ample time to come up with a game plan to combat Doncic and his offensive firepower.

Luka Doncic Will Test Blazers Defense

The Blazers have a top-5 defensive rating so far this season, but it is based on a very small sample size against two below-average offenses: the Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings. The team's defensive rating is largely due to the fact that the Blazers held the Suns to just 83 points in the home opener at the Moda Center.

The Suns shot extremely poorly in that matchup, making just 35.7 percent of shots from the floor. It's unlikely that Doncic and the Lakers will do that against the Blazers.

Doncic is coming off the best offensive performance by any player so far this young season. The Lakers just beat the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City, where the MVP candidate scored 52 points on 17-of-30 shooting, including 8-of-18 from downtown. He also dished out 10 assists and grabbed 8 boards, all of which led the team.

How Can Blazers Beat Luka?

The responsibilities of defending Doncic cannot fall solely on one person. The team has to come up with a collective effort to keep him under any superhuman statistics.

Toumani Camara will likely draw the first and primary assignment on him, but Sidy Cissoko, Damian Lillard, Ja Morant, Scoot Henderson, and Deni Avdija will all likely see him at some point during the game.

The key to containing Doncic is to throw as many looks at him as possible. Doncic has the ability to win matchups all across the court, including against everyone on the Blazers. If he is seeing inconsistent looks throughout the game, it might force him into decisions that aren't the most optimal.

With LeBron James no longer with the team, Doncic is truly taking over as their primary hub on offense. The Lakers have found tremendous success already with him in this role, and it's up to the Blazers to figure out how to stop it. Otherwise, Portland might suffer its first loss of the season.