October 28, 2008 – Lakers begin the 2008-2009 NBA season by soundly beating the young run and gun Portland Trailblazers 96-76. The hype built up with the hopes lying on both teams young big men. It started off with Andrew Bynum jumping it off against Greg Oden, but in the end none of the young-ins looked as impressive as the veterans.
Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Bynum or any of the guys under 25 made a significant impact on the game, where as Pau Gasol had full control of the 1st half, and of course Kobe took care of the second half after getting fired up by being bumped by Joel Przybilla and scoring eight straight points in the third quarter.
Predictions of the year
NBA Champions: Los Angeles Lakers
Western Conference Champions: Los Angeles Lakers
Eastern Conference Champions: Boston Celtics
MVP: Labron James
Rookie of the Year: Derrick Rose
Defensive Player of the year: Kevin Garnett
6th Man of the year: Lamar Odom
