Jan 2nd AT Los Angeles Lakers Gametime 6:30 pm Pacific Time KGW TV Channel 8 will broadcast the game locally These two teams last met on October 28, opening day, in Los Angeles. After all the excitement of the summertime and the preseason we got our hats handed to us in an ugly loss to the Lakers. [video=youtube;IaLfZnl4bsI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePqsNRg6o9Y]Inside the NBA and TNT have a recap of the game here, and highlights. If you can call them hightlights. Which you really can only do if you are a Laker fan.[/url]That game knocked a lot of the wind out of our sails and it seemed to me that it took our team the better part of a week to get over it. I know it took me at least that long to get the bad taste out of my mouth. In every way that game was a disaster. We were not ready in any way shape or form to go to Los Angeles and compete with the team that very nearly beat the Boston Celtics for the championship. Actually, we weren't playing THAT team. We were playing a better team. This Laker team features a deep bench which has bruiser LaMar Odom and Trevor Aziza often playing thirty minutes, as well as shooting guard Sasha Vujacic, a young man with a deadly shot who is capable of scoring a lot of points in a short amount of time. Even though he hasn't been playing that well lately, Nate McMillan will probably continue to start Nic Batum at small forward. If you remember he'd planned to do this for the season opener, (the last time these two teams played) but then changed at the last minute and started Travis Outlaw. Both teams will have Saturday night off and should be well rested. The biggest question mark besides whether or not the referees will let Greg Oden play or whether Greg himself will let himself get untracked, is Brandon Roy. Depending on when you check Roy is listed as questionable, or day to day. He tried to make a go of it Friday night against the Hornets, but after suiting up in the afternoon and going at assistant coach Monty Williams the decision was made to give Brandon another night off. I got a pretty good look at him at the game Friday night as he was hobbling around the Blazer bench with a noticible limp. The Blazers are being careful with Roy's injury and don't want to bring him back too soon and see him injure it again. Tough guy that he is, it's never wise to bet against him and Roy is very well capable of playing with pain. But a torn hamstring needs to heal properly or it could easily get worse and shorten his season. Something none of us wants to see. I've kept him in my lineup of projected starters, but if they decide to keep him on the sidelines Rudy Fernandez will take his place in the starting lineup. Projected starters Portland Trailblazers Steve Blake -PG Brandon Roy-SG Nic Batum-SF LaMarcus Aldridge-PF Greg Oden-Center Projected starters Los Angeles Lakers Derek Fisher-PG Kobe Bryant-SG Luke Walton-SF Pau Gasol-PF Andrew Bynum-Center If you wish, you may CLICK HERE, for a chance to win a free Portland Trailblazer Jersey, otherwise just ignore.
Mike Barrett said that if he had to guess, he would say Roy doesn't play Sunday. Lets hope he's a bad guesser. http://mikebarrettsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/hornets-catch-fire-in-fourth.html
