The Lakers and Blazers meet tonight for the fourth and final time this season, with L.A. leading the season series two games to one. Tonight’s matchup marks the first time in two games against the purple 
and gold that All-Star guard Brandon Roy will play. Less than one week ago, the Lakers defeated Portland 104-91 behind an extremely efficient 36 points (10-13 shooting), 13 rebounds and seven assists from Kobe Bryant. Despite the loss, Martell Webster excelled for the Blazers, scoring 23 points. Webster is listed as day-to-day for tonight’s game due to an irregular heartbeat.
Since spending much of the first half of the season on top of the Northwest Division, the Blazers have struggled of late, finally succumbing to the injuries that have plagued them ever since future franchise center Greg Oden went out with a season-ending injury last fall. Portland lost their last game on Sunday, only managing to score 65 points in a 72-65 loss to the Spurs. In all, the Blazers have lost five games in a row heading into tonight’s battle.
Portland’s woes just worsened considerably too after it was announced this week that center Joel Pryzbilla broke a bone in his right hand and will miss the rest of the season. Noted for his defense and tenacity, Pryzbilla was averaging over 11 rebounds per game since the All-Star break. The Lakers, meanwhile, have injury problems of their own with Luke Walton sitting out Sunday’s victory over the Kings with a right hamstring strain. Walton is listed as day-to-day.
With this weekend’s highly anticipated showdowns with New Orleans and San Antonio looming, the Lakers need to be careful not to overlook the pesky Blazers, shorthanded or not.
