Easy Win for Lakers in Season Opener

Last night the Los Angeles Lakers faced off against the up-and-coming Portland Trail Blazers and scored an easy 96-76 victory. The young, promising Trail Blazers were injury-prone in last night’s opener at Staples Center and never led during the game, revealing the Lakers to be faster, bigger and more efficient from outside. Kobe Bryant finished with 23 points, 17 of them in the second half while Pau Gasol had 15 points all in the first half of the game. Bryant told the L.A. Times he was “surprised” by the margin of victory, saying, “Portland’s been a team that’s kind of given us a lot of trouble. But we were able to stifle them a bit, which I’m very pleased with.”

The showdown between Greg Oden and Andrew Bynum was hyped prior to the game, but it proved to be all talk, as Oden left the court after the second quarter because of a sprained right foot (his numbers for the game: no points, four missed shots, two missed free throws and five rebounds in 13 minutes). Many fans see the game as an example of the changes ushered in by the new year; in last season’s opener Bryant was booed during pregame intros after he demanded to be traded. There was a change in the air all right, as the purple and gold walked in with a dominant stride. Jordan Farmer took the microphone before the game and referenced last year’s six-game flameout in the NBA finals, “Everyone in this building knows we left on the wrong foot last year. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

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