NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs Celtics matchup. The Headline: LaMarcus Aldridge comes alive, but a dominating Celtics defense holds Portland to 34 percent shooting in this ugly loss. L.A. and the bench show some great signs of life, but there’s never anything positive about 34 percent shooting.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs Wizards matchup. The Headline: squaring off with the winless Wizards, Portland continues its East Coast losing streak with this new 82-84 loss. Batum looked like he’s coming out of his slump, and Hickson had a season high 19 rebounds. But with four games left on the roadtrip, Portland needs to find some wins.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs Pistons matchup. The Headline: despite a nagging back injury, LaMarcus Aldridge comes alive for Portland; unfortunately, it’s not enough to hold off the Pistons in this 101-108 loss. Also, the rookies show promise while the stars fade. The Blazers rolled with four bench players in this one, rookies Will Barton and Meyers Leonard were prominent.
NWSB Insider and Oregon State Beavers football blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the UO vs. OSU week 13 matchup. The defense puts out a surprisingly tough effort, and the running backs do everything right to keep the game in OSU’s favor. But a flurry of mistakes—many on the shoulders of Markus Wheaton—puts the Beavers to rest in this 48-24 loss.
NWSB Insider and BC Lions blogger points out what happened last Sunday in the Calgary Stampeders vs. BC Lions Western Final. He says the Stamps played arguably their finest 60 minutes of defensive football this year in 34-29 win Sunday at BC Place Stadium to earn a trip to Toronto for Sunday’s Grey Cup.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs. Suns matchup. The Headline: the Suns come out blazing, shooting a near 60 percent against an ailing Portland team. The duel rookies Lillard and Leonard play pretty good ball, but a lack of defense and control lets the Suns runaway with this one.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Bulls vs. Blazers matchup. The Headline: L.A. puts up a double-double, and Portland uses a rain of shots to sink the Rose-less Bulls 102-94. The Blazer’s shooting looked really good in this one, and the bench was even able to contribute. Fouls and ball control remain an issue for this young team.
NWSB Insider and Oregon State Beavers football blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Cal vs. OSU week 12 matchup. Oregon State finally plays a complete game, topping Cal 62-14 at home. The offense was the biggest winner, moving the ball in every way imaginable while getting everyone involved. If there’s any bad in this one, it’s a couple injuries and some disappointing play by the defense up front. Mike Riley got plenty of chances to rest his starters.
NWSB Insdier and Seattle Seahawks blogger Brandon Choate brings us what he loved and hate about Sunday’s game against the Jets. Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Zach Miller all stepped up big time in the pass game while Marshawn Lynch hit another milestone. Richard Sherman continued to play lockdown defense while Brandon Browner is quietly putting together some solid plays.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs. Kings matchup. The Headline: The Trail Blazers finally find win No. 3 on the back of Damian Lillard, topping the Kings 103-86. Damian Lillard and Wesley Matthews were great in this win, making a lot of shots. But Portland was beat badly in the paint, and that was against a shorthanded Kings team!
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Spurs vs. Blazers matchup. The Headline: Nicolas Batum asks for the ball in the fourth and delivers, but not even that saves Portland from falling just short. Batum and L.A. have solid nights, but still can’t match a small Parker-less Spurs.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Spurs vs. Blazers matchup. The Headline: Nicolas Batum asks for the ball in the fourth and delivers, but not even that saves Portland from falling just short. Batum and L.A. have solid nights, but still can’t match a small Parker-less Spurs.
