The city of Portland is at a crossroads. With a new apartment complex on every block and thousands of new residents flocking to the land of fair trade coffee and cruelty-free, artisan baked goods, the battle between Old Portland and New Portland has Rip City searching for a new identity. In an ironic twist of fate, as the City of Roses undergoes an extended facelift, so too does its basketball team. Gone is four-fifths of the starting lineup that won 50-plus
Things have changed in Rip City. For the Portland Trail Blazers, the 2013-14 season not only represented a return to the playoffs, it ended a drought of not making the second round that had lasted longer than a decade. Yes, the Trail Blazers got taken to the woodshed by the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals, doing just enough against the eventual champions to avoid a sweep. But plenty of other teams got whooped by the Spurs, too. Winning against the Houston
Raise your hand if you had the Portland Trail Blazers leading the Western Conference. OK, now put your hand down and stop lying. The Trail Blazers are 16-3. After a disappointing loss in Phoenix that ended a double-digit winning streak, Portland is 3-0 in December, including back-to-back home victories over the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, two of the best teams in the NBA. There are two things every NBA fan wants to know right now. First, is this Blazers team
The 2012-13 season was not a kind one to the Portland Trail Blazers. Forget the NBA Rookie of the Year Award given unanimously for only the fourth time in history to Damian Lillard. Forget, too, the second straight All-Star nod for LaMarcus Aldridge. Also forget that Aldridge, Lillard, Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews comprised the top four-man lineup in the league. Portland finished the campaign on a franchise-worst 13-game losing streak and wasn’t competitive in a game for more than a month. This season is shaping
(This is another in a series of 30 guest columns that will run in October, when optimism reigns supreme across the NBA. The theme will be “Five Reasons to Feel Positive About … ” We encourage you to follow the authors on Twitter and visit their sites. – CS) Portland Trail Blazers fans had to endure one of the franchise’s worst meltdowns in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season. Following an epic sell-off and housecleaning, the Blazers enter this season with a new