Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - Damian Lillard scored 28 points with nine assists, Wesley Matthews tallied 25 points and the Portland Trail Blazers cruised past the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-93, on Friday. Lillard and Matthews connected on 10 of the Blazers season-high 18 3- pointers, with Matthews converting 7-of-14 tries from deep. Already playing without center Robin Lopez, LaMarcus Aldridge (upper respiratory illness) and Chris Kaman (childs birth) were both out of the lineup as well. In stepped Joel Freeland, who scored six points and pulled down a career-high 17 rebounds in Portlands fifth straight win at home. Tony Wroten scored 22 points for the Sixers, who had a season-high two-game winning streak snapped. Michael Carter-Williams added 17 points with six rebounds and five assists. Philadelphia led in the early going before Portland got settled and went on a 13-2 run that Meyers Leonard capped with a dunk for a 19-12 lead. The Sixers trimmed the deficit to one following a Wroten 3-pointer, then Matthews netted a jumper to give the hosts a 27-24 lead after 12 minutes. C.J. McCollums 3-pointer started a 14-4 run midway through the second quarter that gave the Blazers a 52-37 lead. Philadelphia used a 12-2 run later in the frame to close the gap to six, but Lillards free throw and Dorell Wrights three stretched the margin to 61-51 at the half. Matthews hit back-to-back treys as part of an 8-0 burst following a Carter- Williams free throw as Portland made it a 69-52 game early in the third. The Blazers led 88-74 entering the fourth and led by as many as 23 in the final period. Game Notes The Trail Blazers set a franchise record with at least 15 3-pointers made in back-to-back games ... Portland shot 42-of-88 from the floor, including 18- of-43 from beyond the arc... Nicolas Batum added 14 points in the win ... Philadelphia held a 64-32 edge in the paint. . Thornton emerged as one of the leagues best defensive ends against the run in 2013. The former undrafted free agent from Division II Southern Arkansas led Philadelphias linemen with 78 tackles and had one sack. . - Chicago Bears general manager Phil Emery was so busy in free agency he didnt mind having a few extra weeks to prepare for the draft.
http://www.steelersrookiestore.com/Stee ... en-Jersey/. Not because it was right, but because referees werent allowed to determine it was wrong. .Y. -- The New York Islanders were merely content with a lopsided victory. . -- Marty Havlat scored three goals for the first time in nearly nine years, and the San Jose Sharks prevented Colorado from clinching the Central Division title with a 5-1 victory over the Avalanche on Friday night. IRVING, Texas -- Tony Romo looked like the man in charge of the Dallas offence for the first off-season practice until the drills got a little more competitive. Five months removed from back surgery, Romo donned a baseball cap for 11-on-11 work. Theres no use in rushing, as coach Jason Garrett has been saying for weeks. Romo echoed that talk Tuesday in his first extensive interview since sustaining a herniated disk against Washington and missing the finale against Philadelphia with a playoff berth on the line. "I dont know that theres anything you cant do," the 34-year-old said in the locker room after practice. "You just want to make sure you dont put a high volume of numbers on it yet." For example, Romo says he has thrown at full velocity -- just not very often -- in his continuing recovery from surgery Dec. 27. That came two days before he watched from home while the Cowboys fell to the Eagles in a third straight season-ending loss that put them at 8-8 and kept them out of the post-season. "Its very difficult to watch," said Romo, who was under centre for season-finale losses at the New York Giants and Washington the previous two seasons, and for another one at Philadelphia in 2008. "That one obviously is out of your control. Thats what made it hard. Its amazing how big of a fan you become, rooting and excited about every little thing." Romo was further along Tuesday than he was a year ago, when he had surgery to remove a cyst on his back in April and missed all the off-season practices. He went to California ahead of his teammates for some intense conditioning work before training camp, and spent tthe first few weeks catching up.dddddddddddd "Im actually excited just about comparative to last year where youre just going into camp without having had a rep in the off-season," Romo said. "Theres some things I want to work on, and Ive been doing that in small doses. Now well get that ramped up here." Romo has a new play caller for the third straight season in Scott Linehan, who was offensive co-ordinator in Detroit before coach Jim Schwartz was fired after last season. Linehan and Garrett worked together for a season in Miami almost a decade ago, and plenty of the language will be the same. The new passing game co-ordinator is in no hurry to see up close all the things his new primary weapon can do. "Were early," Linehan said. "And the mental game that hes getting done with us and the meetings and the last four or five weeks when we started our off-season program has been huge. I know hes getting himself ready to go." There are daily discussions over whats next for Romo. "Certainly we anticipate him being ready to go at training camp," Garrett said. "Well evaluate how he did today, say, What do you think? Should we stick with the same plan tomorrow? What do you think about Thursday? Youre always trying to push the limit as best you can, but you dont want to do something where you go across that line and they have setbacks." NOTES: The Cowboys waived injured rookie free agent tight end Evan Wilson and signed guard Tyronne Green, a fourth-round pick by San Diego in 2009. Green has 28 starts in 41 career games. He was with New England part of last season but didnt play. ' ' '
