Oden Hurts Foot in 97-76 Loss To Lakers
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 | NBA, Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Portland Trailblazers 97-76 in the 2008-9 NBA season opener for each team in Los Angeles. Although star Kobe Bryant scored 23 points, along with 11 rebounds and 5 assists, all of the talk was about the injury suffered by the Trailblazers 7-foot center Greg Oden. Oden injured his right foot late in the 1st half and never returned to the game. X-rays were negative and Oden will undergo an MRI to assess the damage to the foot. Right now, Oden’s injury is diagnosed as a sprain, and nothing more than that.
Oden, the 1st overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, never played a single game during the 2007-8 NBA season due to the discovery of an off-season injury to his right knee that required microfracture surgery. There was a lot of hype surrounding Oden’s first NBA game, especially since it was coming in L.A. and against the greatest player in the game today – Kobe Bryant. The excitement was short-lived. In his brief 12 minutes of play, Oden racked up 5 rebounds and blocked 1 shot, but he did not score a single point and he had already picked up 2 personal fouls.
The game was all but over after the 1st half. The Lakers had opened up a 15-point halftime lead and they cruised to a 21-point victory in the 2nd half. Pau Gasol had 15 points and 7 rebounds for the Lakers, while Center Andrew Bynum returned from an injury during the middle of last season to score 8 points and grab 3 rebounds. The Trailblazers had 3 players score in double figures – Brandon Roy, Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez.
