Portland Trail Blazers-Los Angeles Lakers: Blazers Do It—Eight In a Row

Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Steve Blake combined for 56 points to power the Portland Trailblazers to a 106-98 win over the Lakers in Portland.

It was the Trailblazers eighth straight win over the Lakers at the Rose Garden and virtually prevented them from gaining the best record in the NBA.

With only two regular season games remaining, the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a 102-92 win over the Sixers tonight in Philadelphia, now lead the Lakers by two games in the loss column.

The Lakers simply went stone cold for the last three minutes. It was like the Curse of the Rose Garden set in after Kobe Bryant made two free throws at the 3:01 mark to pull the Lakers to within one point of Portland, 99-98.

Kobe Bryant missed four shots in that span, Lamar Odom two shots, one a four-foot jumper, and Derek Fisher missed one.

That’s 0-for-7.

Not a good way to close a one-point game, especially with Kobe Bryant, one of the best closers in the NBA.

Oh, well, I guess it’s just the Curse of the Rose Garden. It was a good thing Phil Jackson stayed home. No use aggravating his foot when the outcome was predictable.

Bryant led all scorers with 32 points. Bynum in his second game back from his torn MCL had 13. Lamar Odom had 17.

Brandon Roy was high for the Blazers with 24. Aldridge and Blake had 16 points each.

The next game for the Lakers is at the Staples Center on Sunday against Memphis. The last two times that Bynum has started against the Grizzlies he has wound up with severe knee injuries.

With the results in the Rose Garden tonight, I would consider sitting Bynum on Sunday.