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Lakers-Trail Blazers Preview

Feb 6, 2010 - 7:36 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Los Angeles (38-13) at Portland (30-22), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Nothing has come easy for the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers at the Rose Garden.

Brandon Roy has had a lot to do with this, and the Portland Trail Blazers are hopeful the three-time All-Star will be back on the court Saturday night as they go for their 10th straight home victory over the Lakers.

Roy averages a team-best 23.1 points for the Trail Blazers (30-22), but has missed nine straight and 11 of the last 12 games with a strained right hamstring. He was originally hurt during the Blazers' 120-108 home win over Milwaukee on Jan. 13 and re-aggravated the injury in Philadelphia one week later.

Just five days before getting hurt, Roy led Portland to a 107-98 home win over the Lakers. He scored 32 points on 9 of 11 shooting as the Blazers extended the NBA's longest home winning streak against the Lakers.

"I just mark Ls on the season right away when we come up," Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said following that loss on Jan. 8.

Roy's play is a big reason the Lakers haven't won in Portland since an 86-83 victory on Feb. 23, 2005. The 6-foot-6 guard is averaging 25.2 points and 8.6 assists in five career home games against Los Angeles with the Blazers winning all of them by an average of 10.2 points.

Roy practiced for the first time in two weeks Friday, and coach Nate McMillan is hopeful he'll return for this game.

"He's been sitting out for a couple weeks now and you don't want again to waste the time that you've already allowed him to recover," McMillan told the Trail Blazers' official Web site. "He has to, in his mind, feel confident that he can go out there and play and explode the way he plays out on the court."

Portland has lost six of the 11 games Roy has missed since Jan. 15, but the team is showing some improvement, having won three of four including victories over Dallas and San Antonio.

In Thursday's 96-93 win over the Spurs, the Blazers rallied from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit. Martell Webster provided a big offensive lift throughout, hitting all five of his 3-pointers - two in the final 3:38 - and finishing with 21 points.

Roy not only wants to play, but also wants to make significant contributions.

"I want to go out there and feel like I can help the team," he said. "I don't want to go out there and feel like the guys have to carry me. They're playing well right now and I don't want to come in and make them play at my level."

Kobe Bryant didn't hurt his team by rushing back from a sprained left ankle Friday, but the Lakers still lost to Denver 126-113, their second defeat in three games.

Bryant aggravated his already-sore foot in the first half of Wednesday's 99-97 win over Charlotte and finished with a season-low five points on 2 of 12 shooting. Bryant's status against the Nuggets was in question, but the 12-time All-Star started and had 33 points on 11 of 22 shooting with nine rebounds.

"I could still be effective and play," a terse Bryant said. "Obviously, I'm not as explosive as I was but I can still command double teams, things like that."

Bryant has played well in Oregon, but that hasn't translated into many wins.

Bryant had 32 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in Portland last month, and has scored at least 30 in 12 of his last 13 games there. Still, the Lakers (34-16) have just two wins in that span and are 4-21 at the Rose Garden since Bryant's rookie season in 1996-97.