Once the Trail Blazers and the Lakers got around to playing basketball Tuesday night, one team wasn't ready.

No, not that team.

The Blazers had a couple decent stretches in the second half, but opening night belonged to the Lakers as the two-time defending champions rolled to a 98-87 victory at the Staples Center.

The start of the game was delayed 35 minutes as the Lakers put the finishing touches on last season, handing out their championship rings and raising the franchise's eighth championship banner while the team they swept in the first round of last season's playoffs sat in its locker room.

The Blazers didn't need anything rubbed in their faces. They are fully aware of the monumental task facing them to get back among the NBA's elite, which means being able to knock off the Lakers.

But in Tuesday's opener, the Blazers were in trouble after the first eight minutes. That was how long it took to fall behind by 15 points, making what started out as an uphill battle even tougher.

The Trail Blazers can talk all they want about how the arrival of new coach Maurice Cheeks has been a breath of fresh air, and how their roster additions have made them quicker and more versatile.

But, as it has for the last two seasons, the simple fact remains: The Blazers are decided underdogs against the Los Angeles Lakers, whom they open the season with tonight at the Staples Center.

The two-time defending champion Lakers will receive their championship rings in a pregame ceremony, while the Blazers mull how far they have fallen behind their chief rivals.

"We know that they are probably a little bit ahead of us, just from the fact that they are the same team that won the championship and we've got a new coach and everything," Blazers forward Scottie Pippen said.

The "everything" Pippen is referring to is a litany of shortcomings that point to a potential opening night disaster.

The LA Times' Steve Springer writes that the Clippers waived two players, forward Derek Strong and guard Miles Simon, and placed forward Harold Jamison (contusion of the left shin) on the injured list to reach the 12-player limit.

The Strong move raised eyebrows, considering the Clippers still owe the 10-year veteran $8 million, which will now be paid over the next four seasons. In the past, owner Donald Sterling would rather eat crow and keep a player he didn't need than eat a contract.

But no longer.

The Clippers also obtained center Will Perdue, 36, from the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, then immediately waived him.

The Clippers had no intention of keeping Perdue, making the move strictly for salary-cap purposes. In exchange for freeing money up for the Trail Blazers, who are well over the cap, the Clippers received monetary compensation from Portland.

But since the Trail Blazers weren't allowed to simply give Perdue away, the Clippers made it legal by giving Portland the draft rights to Doron Sheffer, a 1996 second-round draft choice who retired after playing in Israel two years ago.

The Portland Trail Blazers finalized their 15-man roster on Tuesday by trading Will Perdue to the Clippers and waiving Johnny Taylor and Priest Lauderdale.

Perdue was moved to the Clips for the rights to 1996 draft choice Doron Sheffer (36th pick).

The 6-5 Sheffer averaged 13.3 points and 5.5 assists in his three-year career at Connecticut. He was the Big East Conference Rookie of the Year in 1993-94.

After failing to stick with an NBA team, he returned to Israel in 1996 to play for Maccabi Tel-Aviv. He posted 13.0 ppg on 53.6% from 3-pt range in 62 games over a three-year span.

Sheffer retired from basketball in July of 2000 and hasn't played competitively for over one year.

The acquisition of his rights allowed Portland to keep veteran Mitchell Butler, who was on the bubble.

Taylor, a first-round pick of the Magic in 1997, has appeared in 54 games in his NBA career. He averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds during that span.

Lauderdale, a 7-4 center, was a 4th round pick of Atlanta in 1996. He has career averages of 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds.

The Blazers held an open scrimmage Sunday at the Rose Garden, and they have until 3 p.m. today to announce the final cuts and other roster moves. The players with the most cause to sweat are Mitchell Butler, Priest Lauderdale and Johnny Taylor, although coach Maurice Cheeks said he would not make any cuts official until today.

The top candidates for the injury list are Ruben Patterson (back), Will Perdue (right hamstring) and Bonzi Wells (left knee), although all three players were well enough to start in Sunday's scrimmage.

Patterson might start the season on the suspended list to serve a five-game league suspension imposed after he entered a modified guilty plea to attempted rape in May. Regardless of which list he's on, the suspended list or the injured list, he becomes eligible to play on the same date -- Nov. 8 against the Los Angeles Clippers. The same goes for anybody else who starts the season on the injured list.

"It's not easy," Cheeks said of finalizing his roster. "I mean, I never was cut during my playing days. It's probably one of the hardest things to tell a guy, and it's not going to be easy for me to tell anybody.

"Everybody wants to play and everybody wants to make a team, but everybody can't do it. When you go into a camp, I think all guys know there are only 12 to 15 spots available. So, someone knows they're not going to get in. I'll handle it from there."

Nba.com reports: The Portland Trail Blazers have traded center Will Perdue to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for the draft rights to Doron Sheffer, the 36th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.

Perdue finished his first season with the Blazers in 2000-01 where he averaged 1.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 13 games. In 13 NBA seasons, Perdue has compiled averages of 4.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 15.6 minutes in 792 games.

It's Sunday, which means Peter Vecsey has a ripe trade rumor to mention in passing.

Vecsey reports that a Terrell Brandon for Damon Stoudamire swap is "back on the grill". Because of the difference in salaries between the two players ($9.25 million versus $12.375 million), other treats/cap fodder would have to get tossed into the deal.

All summer we've been teased with Brandon for Gary Payton rumors. Have the Wolves opted for Plan B? Or do the Sonics covet Stoudamire, but don't want to swing a deal through Portland? If the Wolves acquire Stoudamire by December 21, they may be able to move him to the Sonics in a multiplayer trade by the deadline.

Yes, it was only an exhibition game, but the Rose Garden was hopping on Friday night.

Dunks. Blocked shots. Steals. Fast breaks. More dunks.

It was a teaser of how exciting this Trail Blazers team can be, as a rousing fourth quarter that showcased the team's athleticism led the way to a 101-88 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the exhibition finale for both teams.

The fourth-quarter flurry, which included a 15-0 run, left the Blazers bench in a towel-twirling, high-fiving scene, and it turned the stands into a sea of ecstasy.

"That was beautiful, just beautiful basketball," coach Maurice Cheeks said. "The energy, the defense, I don't know what else to say.'"

The NBA welcomes two new faces and two recycled ones to its coaching fraternity this season, and all four of them are sure to have headaches by Halloween.

Rick Carlisle, a head coach after years as an assistant, must convince Jerry Stackhouse to be a more complete player in Detroit.

John Lucas, who has coached Philadelphia and San Antonio, has a challenging rebuilding project in Cleveland.

Maurice Cheeks, the other newcomer, will have to instill his grace into the talented mess that resides in Portland.

Doug Collins, the fiery former coach of Chicago and Detroit, has the most intriguing and perhaps most challenging job of the four: trying to rebuild the Washington Wizards while battling the expectations that come with having the unretired Michael Jordan.

Pippen, who turned 36 last month, has been banged up and disappointed in his tenure with the Blazers. An elbow injury was his biggest problem last season, and he even briefly considered retirement during the summer.

But he's back, hoping to again fill an enabling role for a quality team -- a team that played last season as if the roster was made up of disassembled engine parts spread out on the floor of a garage. Nobody, not then-coach Mike Dunleavy and not Pippen, could put them back together.

"After having an injury in the middle of a season, it was hard to get back into the flow, especially because it was the elbow of my shooting arm and it never quite recovered the way I wanted it to," Pippen said. "Then things started to go downhill for us as a team. There's really no one to blame it on. It was just that we never got ourselves back into the rhythm that we were in the year before."

"I feel good about this team, but are we a championship-caliber team yet? I don't think so. With the loss of Sabonis, the lack of size in the middle is going to make it tough. But if we prove that we can work hard every night, then we can do it.

"I want us all to understand that winning a championship is playing at a high level every night. It's not waiting until the playoffs. You've got to come every night and build those good habits, and then it becomes easy for you. We're not there yet."