By Devan Cook

The Trail Blazers knew they were heading into a difficult match-up on Tuesday night against the Lakers, the leading team in the Western Conference, but that was even before Brandon Roy suffered an ankle injury. With the loss of their team leader for the game, pulling themselves out of the rut they have been in lately and capturing the victory seemed unlikely. But the team, who has lost eight of their last nine games, did the unthinkable, leading the Lakers by as much as 15 points in the first quarter and holding on to their lead for most of the following two periods.

It was in the second half, however, that the team's momentum began to stagger. Portland only scored 14 points in the 3rd period, and 18 in the 4th, but were still able to maintain a lead most of the way until the Lakers, led by Kobe Bryant, began a big push that included Bryant tacking on 11 of his 30 points in the final period.

Jordan Farmar also added 21 points for L.A., while Gasol contributed 15.

Travis Outlaw, in his first game as part of the starting line-up this season, scored 18 points. LaMarcus Aldridge had the most impressive performance for the Trail Blazers, scoring 24 points, and Joel Pryzbilla tied his season high with 16 rebounds. The combined team effort was almost enough for them to pull off the victory, but despite the eventual turnout Coach Nate McMillan was happy with his team's performance:

“I thought our guys came out and played hard. Once again, the third quarter, we had some break downs… those five minutes where we were not executing on both ends of the floor. We were either dropping leads or digging holes for ourselves. We just have to keep working. I saw some good things tonight from some of our guys, and then we need everybody to play well. We’re that type of team that if we don’t have both groups being productive, it’s been hard for us to win this season.”

The end of the game saw tensions flare between players, in particular a heated moment with Kobe Brynt and Travis Outlaw. Coach McMillan's flared temper caused him to be ejected near the end of the game. Needless to say, when the two teams meet up for a re-match in Portland on Friday, the Trail Blazers will be bringing the heat.

Before that anticpated re-match the team plays another night in L.A. against the Clippers Wednesday. The game airs locally on Comcast Sports Net at 7:30.