Lakers at Trail Blazers
THE STORY: The Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Lakers have clinched playoff spots, but their opponents are still to be determined. Friday’s meeting at Portland could very well be a first-round preview, but that doesn’t appear to be a favorable scenario for the Trail Blazers. Los Angeles won the first three meetings with Portland this season, so the Trail Blazers might be extra motivated to win Friday and improve their chances of playing Dallas instead. They are 2-2 against the Mavericks, who have lost in the first round in three of the last four years. The Lakers have lost three straight, including their last two against non-playoff teams.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, KCAL-Los Angeles, KGW-Portland
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (46-33): Portland will likely finish sixth, seventh or eighth in the West. The Trail Blazers are sixth, one-half game ahead of New Orleans following their 98-87 victory at Utah on Thursday. The Trail Blazers, though, dropped 3 of 4 to the Hornets this season, so they would lose the tiebreaker should they finish tied. Portland is 1½ games ahead of eighth-place Memphis. The Trail Blazers may be without center Marcus Camby, who fell awkwardly over David Lee and suffered an apparent neck injury in Tuesday’s 108-87 loss to Golden State, their worst home defeat of the season. He did not make the trip to Utah.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (55-23): Losing at home to a quality team such as Denver is understandable, but when lowly Utah comes in to Staples Center and wins 86-85 on Tuesday, heads were scratched. The Lakers also fell at Golden State 95-87 on Wednesday, a result that clinched the top seed in the West for San Antonio. It also ended Los Angeles’ 12-game winning streak over the Warriors. The Lakers’ magic number to nail down the No. 2 seed is two over Dallas. The Lakers swept the season series with New Orleans 4-0 and split four meetings with Memphis, their other two first-round possibilities.
WHO'S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Los Angeles’ Andrew Bynum is averaging 18.7 rebounds in his last three games. He had a career-high 23 against Utah. Kobe Bryant is 3 for 15 from 3-point range in his last three. Pau Gasol is shooting .607 from the field in his last seven, well above his season average of .530. Portland’s Nicolas Batum is averaging 17.5 points in his last four games, 5.2 above his season number. Andre Miller had 12 assists Thursday after he had 10 combined in his last three games.
KEY STATISTIC: Portland is 18-24 against teams .500 or better this season, but 8-4 in its last 12, including 5-0 at home.
SEASON SERIES: The Lakers won 84-80 on March 20, 106-101 in overtime at Portland on Feb. 23 and 121-96 on Nov 7.
KEY INJURIES: LOS ANGELES: F Devin Ebanks (leg). PORTLAND: C Marcus Camby (neck).
LAST WORD: “No. They rested tonight.’’ – Lakers coach Phil Jackson, after Wednesday’s loss, on whether he would rest his starters over the final four regular-season games.