Roy, Blazers continue to have Lakers' number at home

By Kerry Eggers, for NBA.com
Posted Saturday January 9, 2010 1:57AM

PORTLAND, Ore. (NBA.com exclusive) -- Maybe it's an aversion to purple and gold, or Phil Jackson's frequent put-downs of their city, or just the stars always being in the right alignment under Portland's cloudy skies.

Whatever the reason, the Portland Trail Blazers always seem to rise up when the Los Angeles Lakers come to town.

Portland got outstanding individual efforts all around, and it added up to a convincing 107-98 victory over the defending NBA champions Friday night.

A sellout Rose Garden crowd of 20,629 was electric as the Blazers (23-15) beat the Lakers for the ninth straight time and the 15th time in 17 meetings in Portland.

Why the dominance?

"I know once they started making a big deal of the streak, our fans have done a great job of coming out with a lot of energy," said all-star guard Brandon Roy, who was sensational in a 32-point performance. "The minute that game starts, we have a lot of confidence. We come out with a lot of energy and work hard and play our best games against them up here.

"But we don't talk about it like, 'Let's keep the streak.' We just say, 'World champions -- let's try to beat them.' "

Lakers coach Phil Jackson seemed annoyed when asked about his team's lack of success in the City of Roses.

"I just mark 'L's' on the season right away when we come up," Jackson said with more than a trace of sarcasm.

But Jackson paid homage to the Blazers, who shot .507 from the field and .821 from the foul line, won the rebound battle 42-38 over the much bigger Lakers, committed only eight turnovers and even won the fast-break points matchup 10-2.

"They played very well tonight," Jackson said. "You have to give them credit for what they do. I don't think we played exceptionally well.

"We just can't seem to match their energy [in games at the Rose Garden]. We don't do a good job of it."

Portland coach Nate McMillan couldn't have been happier with his team, a day after he had words with point guard Andre Miller during a practice session, an incident that created quite a stir among fans in the city.

"It was a great win for us," McMillan said. "We played great basketball tonight.

"Defensively, we made them work for everything. Offensively, we got the movement. We attacked, we pushed the ball. You can go down the list of every guy who played and he did something special."

The game's biggest stat was the free throw disparity. Portland was 32 of 39 at the line; Los Angeles only 5 of 10.

"You can't have a discrepancy like that," Jackson sniffed.

Roy "accepted the challenge" of facing the Lakers, McMillan said, with a near-flawless game. Portland's franchise player knocked down 9 of 11 shots from the field and 13 of 14 from the line, collected five rebounds and six assists and had no turnovers in his 38 minutes.

Martell Webster "played one of his best games as a pro," McMillan said, especially at the defensive end. The Blazers' small forward had primary defensive responsibility on Kobe Bryant, who scored 32 points but was only 14 of 37 from the field.

"It's a lot easier to get motivated playing against a team like that, a player like that," said Webster, who made only 6 of 17 shots but contributed 14 points and eight rebounds. "I took it my heart on my sleeve and prove to myself I can get down and guard him."

The Lakers entered the game No. 2 in the NBA in opponents' field goal percentage at .434. Portland cut them up with precision passing, getting terrific play from point guards Miller (17 points, seven assists) and Jerryd Bayless (21 points in 21 minutes off the bench).

"Bayless was outstanding, and my main man Miller played great basketball," McMillan observed, drawing laughs from the media throng. "That was good to see."

McMillan was asked if the air had been cleared with Miller, and if he viewed the Laker game as a new start.

"It was clear this morning when I talked to my team," McMillan said. The escalation of Thursday's practice incident "was on me. I needed to control that, and I should have. But we've put that behind us.

"I didn't plan for that to happen and for it end up this way ... [but] hopefully what happened tonight is something we build off of and we get consistent with this type of effort and play for 48 minutes."

For the Lakers, they'll be marking Feb. 6 -- their next visit to Portland -- in red on their calendar.

"We have to go out and try and break the curse," center Andrew Bynum said. "It's hard. It's really hard for us to win here."

• Lakers: Walton
• Trail Blazers: Batum, Oden, Outlaw, Przybilla

• Lakers: --
• Trail Blazers: --

• Lead Changes: 0
• Times Tied: 3

• Arena: Rose Garden, Portland, OR
• Officials: #22 Bill Spooner, #19 James Capers, #53 Mark Lindsay
• Attendance: 20629
• Duration: 2:16