Sports Column

Laker rivalry will only get better

On Sports

By dwight jaynes

The Portland Tribune, Apr 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (4 Reader comments)

I’ve been writing about the Trail Blazers since 1984 and can tell you there’s nothing in the regular season like the nights when the Lakers show up in Portland.

Been that way for years.

“It was that way in the days when I played for the Blazers,” says Mychal Thompson, the center who played for both teams. “They are the glitzy team in the league, and everyone gets pumped up. Always have. And when you have that kind of atmosphere …”

You get some wild nights. The Lakers vs. the Blazers — that’s on a different level. The emotions are wild. The play is scintillating. And it rains. At least that’s what Phil Jackson, the Hall of Fame Laker coach with an ego to match, always says.

Every time someone asks him why the Blazers seem to dominate his team in Portland, he mentions the weather. “It’s always raining up here,” he says. The man said it again Tuesday night, when the Blazers gave his team a spanking.

His remark came off about the same as it always does — tasteless. Instead of giving the Blazers a little credit, Jackson hands out a stale one-liner. I think he is trying his best to belittle the young Blazers and keep them down.

Trust me, he knows what’s ahead. Everyone knows.

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