http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketbal ... umn?page=1
K, it's a holy war now, the Lakers and . . . Trail Blazers?
Who are the Trail Blazers, again?
Oh yeah, they're the young guys from Portland, who couldn't miss with Greg Oden, the center of his generation, joining all their rising stars.
That was before Oden's rookie season was cut in half by injuries, after being deferred for a year because of microfracture surgery, leaving Andrew Bynum as the center of Oden's generation.
If the Trail Blazers pounded their chests after their manly response to Trevor Ariza's foul in Monday's game -- actually, they just ran over to Rudy Fernandez and acted upset -- it was another night on the road for the Lakers, who have seen . . . and invited . . . worse
If the Lakers have lost seven in a row in Portland, it's less a concern than a revelation.
With Portland finishing 15th, 12th and 10th in the West the last three seasons, Lakers players are more like, "Really? I slept through most of those trips."
...Of course, if that's intimidating, it's on the Trail Blazers, who won't notice it if they're ever as good as the Lakers, which hasn't happened yet.
Perhaps fueling anxiety is the nagging fear of replicating another unhappy chapter, "We Take Sam Bowie Instead of Michael Jordan," with Kevin Durant, whom they passed up for Oden, flourishing.