I think Portland could easily hang with them here, but it depends on how well they gel with each other right away. Tough place to play their opening game. Line seems spot on to me, but I would lean Portland. Best play tomorrow is Boston -6.5 though imo. Cleveland has James and not much else. He is the best player in the league and I think Cleveland could beat Boston in the playoffs this year because LBJ is on another level in the playoffs, but right now I think Boston has too much and will destroy them tomorrow. Boston wins 91-74.
Kobe has averaged 37 ppg in his last 11 meetings with the Blazers. Bynum and Gasol have a much better presence inside than Oden and Aldridge. Odom will cause matchup problems with anyone he guards.
I was thinking about taking the Blazers but there are too many reasons to fade them tonight. Lakers at home on opening night with favourable man-to-man matchups? I'll lay the chalk here.
:missingte
Don't get me wrong man, Greg Oden will be an amazing player, but not against Bynum and Gasol. During the offseason Bynum spent most of his days in the weightroom, heck he even grew 1 inch *listed at 7'1 this year, if you haven't seen the kid looks like Dwight Howard. He has 40lbs on Greg Oden in the post.
hno:
some crazy posts in here. First of all, Cavs are a much better team than the roster they've had of recent years. Williams, West, Szerbs, Wallace, etc. This is the first time Lebron has a decent supporting cast around him. I would advise not taking the C's because they will most likely come out flat tonight after a ceremony like that. This Cavs team is dangerous, and they could very well win straight up tonight, but it's too early to put money on that.
Blazers are still young and last year's mid-season run could've been a fluke. The jury is still out if they can make the playoffs, but starting off the season against a hungry lakers team is not an easy proposition. I'm passing on all three games tonight.
Blazers are still young and last year's mid-season run could've been a fluke. The jury is still out if they can make the playoffs, but starting off the season against a hungry lakers team is not an easy proposition. I'm passing on all three games tonight.
Everyone and their mother is expecting huge things from these guys. Their public perception is already peaking and they haven't even played a regular season game yet. These are still a bunch of kids, let's face it. The worst part about it? Their heads are gonna be the size of hot air balloons reading about how great they are. Why don't we let them get some games under their belt before we start handing them the trophy.
