The Portland Trail Blazers finally kicked off their 2008-2009 NBA season on Tuesday.  I, along with most of the rest of the city, have been waiting for this moment all summer long.  And the Blazers proceeded to go out and lay an egg in the first half and lose by 20 to the reigning Western Conference champs.  After the game, Nate McMillan might have told his team to completely forget about what just happened.

But throughout the embarassing nationally televised game, there actually were some positives:  First of all, the play of Rudy Fernandez in his first NBA game was very impressive.  Although we did not see much of his flashy play, he was calm and under control.  He showed a smooth stroke from the outside and his ability to lead a team.  Also, the team played much stronger in the second half.  They were only outscored by five in the final 24 minutes and the entire team looked more confident (albeit against a Laker team that already had the game won).  But the best thing to take away from the game was that is one less time to play the Lakers this season.  They can now look forward to their home opener against San Antonio on Friday.

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