The Lakers Can’t Beat Portland
There are a couple of sure-fire bets in the NBA right now, no matter what our Non-Gambler tells you. (1) Toronto’s front line will get cracked by a competent big man. (2) The Jazz will be absolutely terrifying at home and absolutely terrified on the road. (3) The Blazers will own the Lakers at the Rose Garden.
That storyline is lost in the shuffle, as the Ariza-Fernandez flagrant and subsequent shoving match is getting tons of mileage today. But before that happened – and maybe one reason that took place – was because the Blazers were doling out a White Castle 30-sack by the end of the third quarter.
So why is it that Portland has beaten L.A. the last seven times they’ve ventured up to the Pacific Northwest? This dates back to the Jail Blazers era when both teams were completely different, but there are a couple of constants through this stretch.
* First, Portland owns the boards in their building. They out-rebounded L.A. 46-38 last night, and they’ve consistently had the edge on the glass during this win streak. Last night, Joel Przybilla and LaMarcus Aldridge combined to pull down 31 rebounds, while Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol mustered 21. It’s been like that since Z-Bo wore a Portland uni.
* Recently, Travis Outlaw has been an animal against the Lakers. Last night, he went for 22 points, stinging the Lakers with a helping of mid-range J’s, three’s, and work at the stripe. When these two teams met in the Rose Garden last year, he tossed in 18 points on super-efficient 9-15 shooting.
* The Lakers cannot shoot three’s here. For whatever reason, they’re horrible from beyond the arc in Portland. Maybe it’s that the aesthetics are weird. Maybe Portland closes out on three-point shooters better in their own building. But in their last three meetings (dating back to the beginning of last season), L.A. is a combined 23-78 from deep – 29.4%.
* Lastly, and this is Phil Jackson‘s theory, the Lakers just don’t bring any energy when they go up against one of the most enthused crowds in the League.
“The reality is that they are up for this game, the town is up for the game, they point to these games and we don’t meet the energy,” Jackson said.
Source: LA Times
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March 10th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
haslem says:
Portland Owns La except in Game 7s of the west finals…. (different teams I know).
id say Spurs v Suns is up there too. Always ending with the Spurs winning.
Actually the Spurs may be the most terrifying team to be up against with a 2 point lead in the dying seconds of the 4th.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
E$ says:
memo to Laker fans: You are not the Best rep for the West
March 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
JHov says:
This article has some truth to it! I also chalk last night up to be one of those games that was over before it started..Blazers coming off an embarassing loss and the Lakers coming in lethargic(bad combination). Lakers on 3 gm road losing streak. They need L.O. to start playing hard again..after the trading deadline dude reverted back to his old self! Bynum comes back March 30th..Lakers better hold it together..
March 10th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
rlf says:
come back and talk ‘smack’ when portland wins a playoff series, then we can talk.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
haslem says:
to tie those 2 last points together B roy would be a pretty good fit on the Spurs I’d say, you know in a purely hypothetical world.
March 10th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Ummmmmmm so?
Charlotte owns us too for some reason..
March 10th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Michael says:
The Lakers have beaten portland by 27 and 23 points respectivly this season. It’s a stretch to say that can’t beat them.
March 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
calvin brodus says:
Bring back the non-gambler. He had some bad streaks last season, but it’s still a good column. I’ve always assumed the fantasy doctor and the non-gambler are the same person.
Speaking of gambling…LA was a 3 point favorite last night against P-Town and I thought that was a lock (as did most of the people on the site i bet at). Needless to say, that lock cost me money. That’s the last time I put $ on LA if they’re in Oregon.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Ian says:
it would be a good series to see portland on that 8th seed. maybe a dallas vs golden state moment.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
the rocket cat says:
It’s not just competent bigs who kill Toronto. Any competent SG, any penetrating PG, and anyone who can shoot 3s is a major problem for our defense. The big men just put up crazy stats because they get dunks when our defense breaks down off of penetration.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Amar says:
how about other safe bets: utah > new orleans ?
March 10th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Brown says:
I’d say Golden State’s front line gets abused the most in the NBA. Even an average big man puts up huge numbers against them.
I second what the rocket cat just said (#10). The Raptors can’t guard perimeter players with athleticism or anyone who can put the ball on the floor. They make swiss-cheese defenses look good.
@Michael
Try reading it again. LA can’t beat them IN PORTLAND.
March 10th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
doc says:
Until they beat them in the playoffs they dont own shit.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
K Dizzle says:
Memo to E$ – We might not be the best rep but somehow we managed to sweep Boston and Cleveland
lol
gotta love these regular season prophecies. Lakers got bigger plans than beatin Portland. We lookin at San An, Utah, maybe Orleans. At least we know Bynum gettin back. Can someone from Portland please tell me when Oden’s ever gonna play again? So we can’t win in Portland. Then it’s a good thing we got the homecourt regardless so this article is less than pointless
lol I’m out
March 10th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
j says:
The reason why the lakers suck in the garden is because Blazer fans hate the lakers. I won’t call it a rivalry, because LA beats us all the time in the playoffs when it matters, but during the season, every time LA comes to town it is playoff atmosphere. We here in portland hate the lakers more than anything.
March 10th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Brown says:
Damn, Laker fans get their panties in a bunch whenever you say anything remotely negative about LA.
March 11th, 2009 at 12:04 am
specialguydurr! says:
All the laker fans think the lakers are the greatest team ever, and it’s a fluke or travesty when they lose. How many rings since shaq left? BTW it only took me ten minutes to drive home today, and the air was clear enough to see over fifty feet in front of me which is nice.
March 11th, 2009 at 5:07 am
K Dizzle says:
Could be worse.
How many rings since Bill Walton left?
See why it’s funny?
March 15th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
James Taylor says:
haslem says:
“Portland Owns La except in Game 7s of the west finals…. (different teams I know).”
That game was also play in L.A. dumbass