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. 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 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.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Clippers vs. Blazers matchup. The Headline: Led by former Blazer Jamal Crawford, L.A. tops Portland 103-90 in this back-and-forth contest. Nicholas Batum finally reemerged, and Portland put up a pretty good fight at times. Most disappointing was continued problem guarding the perimeter.
NWSB Blogger and NBA insider Steve Lee reports in with his first installment of the 2012/13 NBA season on the Northwest hoops stars making noise in the NBA. Week one of the 2012-13 NBA season is under our belts and as expected there is a potpourri of stories to kick off the season. Steve Nash, Brandon Roy, Tony Wroten, Damien Lillard, Isaiah Thomas, Jason Terry, Luke Ridnour, Robert Sacre, and Rodney Stuckey are all in this report.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs. Mavericks matchup. The Headline: The Blazers can’t do anything to stop O.J. Mayo, as they fall to the Mavs 114-91. L.A. and Matthews really came alive on defense, and the team played great on the boards. But ugly ball control—and an inability to defend the perimeter—led to this big loss.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Blazers vs. Thunder matchup. The Headline: Despite doing everything else right, the Blazers can’t make their shots, landing their first loss of the season. Damian Lillard becomes just the third NBA rookie to get 20 points and 7 assists in his first two games. But not even that can erase the disappointing play from Batum and the bench.
NWSB Insider and Portland Trail Blazers blogger Jon Irwin breaks down the Lakers vs. Blazers matchup on opening night. Damian Lillard made his official NBA debut on Wednesday night The starters came up big, with Lillard and Nicolas Batum receiving praise for their play. However, in part to a stale game plan, the Blazers let L.A. get too close in the fourth quarter. And what’s with Steve Nash’s new ‘do?!
NWSB Editor and Writer Jon Irwin talks about the ways the Portland Trail Blazers can overachieve and underachieve in the upcoming 2012/2013 NBA season. Big play from their rookies—especially Damian Lillard—could help Portland overachieve. But if Nicolas Batum and the centers falter, Portland’s going to lose a lot of games.
NWSB Writer Bryant Knox talks about the strengths and weaknesses of Portland’s bench heading into the 2012/2013 NBA season. Heading into the new year, the Blazers are going to be one of the youngest teams in the league from the starting lineup to the 12th man, which should create for a number of ups and downs throughout the 2012-13 season. How will J.J. Hickson, Adam Morrison, Joel Freeland do in 2012?
