BLAZERS TOP LAKERS IN WEST PLAYOFF PREVIEW

The Los Angeles Lakers don’t enjoy coming to the Pacific Northwest.  Despite having the best road record in the NBA, they’ve had a horrible run at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland of late.  Their futility in ‘The Rose City’ continued on Friday night as the Portland Trailblazers beat the Lakers 106-98.  It was Los Angeles’ 8^th straight defeat in Portland and allowed Cleveland to pull ahead of the Lakers for the NBA’s best overall record.

Portland put six players in double figures, led by Brandon Roy with 24 points to go with 8 assists.  LaMarcus Aldridge and Steve Blake added 16 each, Rudy Fernandez scored 15 while Greg Oden and Travis Outlaw went for 10 points apiece.  Joel Przybilla continued his solid interior play for the Blazers with 8 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. 

Kobe Bryant paced Los Angeles with 32 points, while Lamar Odom contributed 17 points and 10 boards off the bench.  Andrew Bynum scored 13, Pao Gasol 12 and reserve Shannon Brown 10 points in the losing cause.  After the game, Kobe was at a loss to explain exactly why his team has so much trouble in Portland:

"Even when we're having championship runs, we usually come up here and get our butts kicked. They play us tough here."

He went on to commend the current vintage Blazers:

"To us, they look like a playoff team every time we come up here.  They're extremely well coached, Brandon Roy is a fantastic player and they have great complementary players around him. They're very good."

Portland has been one of the hottest teams in the league since the All Star break, and improved their record at the Rose Garden Arena to 32-7.  Only two of those losses have come in the second half of the season, a very daunting reality for the team’s that will face the Blazers in the post season.  After the game, Brandon Roy suggested that this win along with the team’s previous victory at San Antonio, were huge for their confidence heading into the playoffs:

"These last two wins were huge for us and for our confidence. We beat the Spurs, and we feel good about how we match up with the Lakers. This says a lot about our team. If we play in the playoffs like we played tonight, I like our chances against anybody."

Blazers’ coach Nate McMillan agreed:

"We are still trying to establish ourselves. The game against San Antonio, and the game like tonight, it's about sending a message not only to ourselves but to the league, and to everybody else, that we are an up-and-coming team."

Portland is currently tied with San Antonio for 4^th place in the Western Conference, though they hold the tie-breaker edge over the Spurs.  They’re ½ game behind third place Houston and 1 ½ games behind second place Denver.  The Blazers will play the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center on Saturday night before returning home to face Oklahoma City on Monday.  The Nuggets will come to town on Wednesday to conclude the season in a game that could have major repercussions on the Western Conference playoff seedings.  Los Angeles has already clinched the conference title and has two games remaining on their regular season docket, hosting Memphis on Sunday and Utah on Tuesday.