Portland Trail Blazers Blow Out Los Angeles Lakers: A Fan’s Reaction

The Portland Trail Blazers absolutely blasted the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night (Jan. 5). In an important game for the Blazers to win in order to prove superiority in the Western Conference, the team took care of business in front of a very excited home crowd. The impressive 107-96 win over the Lakers adds to a group of games where the Blazers already beat the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Blazers really just ran the Lakers out of the building, showing much more energy and pushing the game to a pace that the aging former champs just couldn't deal with. A third quarter where the Blazers out-scored the Lakers 32-18 really made the difference in this game, and there wasn't anything that Kobe Bryant could do to get his team back into it. In the first half it looked like the Lakers might have what it took to keep up with the quick transition game of the Blazers, but they slowed as the game progressed.

Gerald Wallace and LaMarcus Aldridge were amazing in this game, completely controlling the low p ost on offense and taking Andrew Bynum out of his comfort zone. Aldridge continuously popped out to hit his little jump shots and that got accentuated by some great guard play by Wesley Matthews and Jamal Crawford.

Wallace finished the game with 31 points after going 13-for-19 from the field and Aldridge went 11-for-20 to finish with 28 points. Matthews had 16 points, Crawford had 17 points and Raymond Felton added 8 points of his own. Felton's game also included 10 assists and just one turnover for the night.

The announcers said it best as the Blazers "continued their dominance over the Lakers " up in Portland. The Blazers really did a great job at taking care of the ball, committing just 4 turnovers the entire game. The ball control really left the Lakers no chance to win this game, and the tempo of this game was simply too much for the much slower team to keep up with. Kobe Bryant scored 30, Andrew Bynum had 21 and Pau Gasol had 19 points, but it simply was not enough to keep up with the first place team in the Northwest division.

The 5-1 Blazers get no time to celebrate this win, as it's time to get on the plane and fly down to Phoenix for a Friday night (Jan. 6) game. Start time is 7:30 p.m. PT and it's a game that the Blazers should win after already beating teams like Denver, Los Angeles and Oklahoma City.

More From YCN :

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Sources:

Blazers_Team_Stats

Blazers Full Schedule

Blazers Preseason Schedule

Blazers Team Page

Blazers Updated Roster

*Ryan is a Northwest bred sports fan that has been a Portland Trail Blazers fan for years. He doesn't miss a game, and has high hopes that the Blazers can improve their roster during the offseason and come back even better in the 2011-12 NBA season.

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