The Lakers lead their season series with Portland 1-0 after holding the Blazers to their lowest scoring total in series history in a 96-76 opening night victory. Los Angeles split last season’s series with Portland 2-2 and have taken just two season series from the Trail Blazers in the 1990’s and 2000’s combined (2004-05: 2-1 and 1992-93: 3-2) combined. This will be the 190th meeting between the Trail Blazers and Lakers with Los Angeles leading the all-time series 107-82. The Lakers are 5-5 against the Trail Blazers in their last 10 overall games. At STAPLES Center, the Lakers are 14-4 against the Trail Blazers all-time and have won 13 of their last 15. In Portland, the Lakers have dropped six straight to the Trail Blazers and are 2-12 in their last 14 games at the Rose Garden. Under head coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers are 16-16 against the Trail Blazers during the regular season. In 2006-07, Kobe Bryant scored 65 points March 16 at STAPLES Center, surpassing his own series record of 50 points established at home back on April 14, 2006 (on the same day Bryant surpassed Elgin Baylor’s single-season franchise scoring record of 2,719 points). In 43 career games against Portland including 37 starts, Kobe Bryant is averaging 27.7 points against the Trail Blazers. In his last 12 regular season games against the Blazers, Bryant is averaging 35.9 points (431). Lakers forward Luke Walton and Blazers center Channing Frye were teammates at Arizona for two seasons (2001-02, 2002-03). Portland guards Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez have both played for Spain internationally along with Pau Gasol. Fernandez was on the 2008 Olympic silver medal team with Gasol while all three played together on the gold medal winning Spanish 2006 FIBA World Championships team.

In our 20 point win against the Blazers on opening night in October we were able to keep All-Star Brandon Roy in check. He had to take 15 shots to score 14 points. Tonight, it is reported that Roy did not make the trip down with his team due to a sore hamstring. The person we must now put that attention on is Rudy Fernandez. He had a nice game against us opening night but is playing much better now with a couple months of NBA ball under his belt. Fernandez is a scorer and shooter with range that extends beyond the three point line. His greatest asset may be his ability to move without the basketball. His constant motion reminds some of rip Hamilton or Reggie Miller. We must impact his game while not devoting so much attention that we turn one of their bigs loose to have a career night.
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PAU GASOL BECOMES 4TH EVER PLAYER TO GO STRAIGHT FROM EUROPE TO NBA AND SCORE 10,000 POINTS
Needing 20 points entering the Lakers January 2 contest with Utah, Pau Gasol scored 21 points on the night to reach 10,001 career points. In doing so, Gasol became the 286th NBA player to score 10,000 career points and the 15th internationally born player to reach that plateau. Including Gasol, eight members of the 10,000 point club are European born: Dominique Wilkins (born in France, grew up in North Carolina and played collegiately at Georgia), Dirk Nowitzki (born in Germany), Kiki Vandeweghe (born in Germany, grew up in Los Angeles and played collegiately at UCLA), Detlef Schrempf (born in Germany, played senior year of high school in Washington and collegiately at Washington), Vlade Divac (born in Yugoslavia), Rik Smits (born in the Netherlands, played collegiately at Marist College), Peja Stojakovic (born in Yugoslavia). Only four, however, have gone straight from Europe to the NBA (Nowitzki, Divac, Stojakovic, Gasol). Additionally, in reaching 10,000 points, Gasol became the 8th fastest internationally born player (in terms of games) to reach that milestone.

40-POINT GAMES
In the Lakers 113-100 victory over Utah January 2, Kobe Bryant scored 40 points, marking the 94th time in his career that he has scored 40-plus points in a game and the SECOND time this season. Last season, Bryant’s 46 points February 1 at Toronto moved him past Elgin Baylor (88 40-plus games) for third all-time. In the history of the NBA, only two players have more career 40-point games: Wilt Chamberlain (271) and Michael Jordan (173). The Lakers are 64-30 in games that Bryant has scored 40-plus points. This season, the Lakers are 1-1 when Bryant scores 40-plus.

MOST CONSECUTIVE BRYANT EARNS WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE MONTH AWARD FOR DECEMBER
On January 2, Kobe Bryant was named Western Conference Player of the Month for December, 2008. The award is Bryant’s 10th Western Conference Player of the Month honor and 11th Player of the Month award overall. Bryant was also named NBA Player of the Month for December of 2000, a year before the award was divided into Eastern and Western Conferences for the 2001-02 season. Last season, Bryant won multiple Player of the Month awards in the same season for the third time (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08). Bryant’s previous Western Conference Player of the Month awards came in April 2008, February 2008, March of 2007, December of 2006, April of 2006, January of 2006, March of 2004, January of 2003 and November of 2001. Bryant helped the Lakers to an 11-4 record in December, which tied with Dallas and San Antonio as the best Western Conference mark for the month. Bryant’s 28.2 ppg was second in the league to Dwyane Wade’s 29.2 ppg. Scoring in double figures in all 15 of the Lakers’ contests, Bryant tallied 30-plus points five times and eclipsed the 40-point plateau once. Bryant and the Lakers were a perfect 7-0 at Staples Center during December, winning their home games by an average of 9.6 ppg.