| 09 March 2009
March 9th - LA Lakers (50-12) at Portland Trail Blazers (39-23)
Very quick yap with Sheed of Bust a Bucket first... a bit of "finish the sentence"...
Behind Enemy Lines: Portland Trail Blazers
Portland will finish...
7th in the West and make the playoffs for the first time in too long.
If we could do over the 2007 draft...
We'd still take Greg Oden. As good as Durant is, Oden's future is still bright.
The Los Angeles Lakers...
Are lucky to have Pau Gasol!
Are lucky to have Pau Gasol!
The Darius Miles saga...
Is over. Miles and the organizationare a mystery to me in some regards but it's just over now.
Tonight's game will result in...
A Blazer victory, we don't lose at home!
*****
Really (#2)? Let's just say I'm glad you included the "still" proviso! Anyway, Sheed's telling the truth (kinda) about Portland at home - they're much tougher. Even tho' they're 39-23 overall, at the Rose Garden they hold a strong 26-5 record. That really tips the balance to be a much more even game than the teams' respective records would indicate. Post busting out of a short slump with a few easy wins, the LA brings the Lakeshow to Portland, a place where historically, they have struggled.
Interestingly, probably the best players at the moment for LA is Pau Gasol - who leads most statistical categories for LA, verily - Gasol's one of the best players in the NBA at the moment. And not only Gasol, but Odom and of course Kobe Bryant will present massive difficulties for the Blazers.
Portland hold an 11-game home-winning-streak, something they'll be eager to protect.
But ruining home-streaks is something that LA have eagerly done this season, with 2 Boston scalps and Cleveland's sole home loss this season coming at their hands. In their last game against a weakened Minnesota, LA was finally able to show some tenacity with a lesser opponent - something they've struggled to do in the latter part of this season. The T-Wolves were crushed. Utterly. And the last of the damage came at the hands of LA's bench - LA's depth coming to the fore for the first time in more than a few games.
The Lakers to win a tightly fought contest.
