Portland Trailblazers Tickets

About The Portland Trailblazers

Walton was the highly coveted center from the ultra-successful UCLA team that ran college basketball for over a decade. Though Walton’s early career would be as marred by injuries as his later career, he would eventually be healthy enough to use his great collection of skills (passing, scoring, rebounding, and defense) to become one of the best centers in the NBA. The hiring of Jack Ramsey as head coach in 1976 and the drafting of Maurice Lucas in the ABA dispersal draft cemented the Portland Trailblazers place as the next great team in the NBA.

The Portland Trailblazers only finished the 1976 season with a record of 49-33, but the record earned them a spot in the playoffs for the first time. That postseason proved to be magical. The Blazers made a surprise run to the NBA Finals after Walton outplayed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the Western Conference Finals. The 1977 finals against the Doctor J and the Philadelphia 76ers saw Walton put on a rebounding and shot blocking show. The Portland Trailblazers came back from an early 0-2 hole to win four straight games and win the NBA Championship. Bill Walton was awarded the Finals MVP and things were looking promising in Portland.

The next season the Portland Trailblazers improved to a 58-24 record and another trip to the postseason. The postseason hopes were not great though. The Blazers had started the season 50-10, but a late season foot injury took Walton out and the team finished 8-14. The playoffs ended with a 4 games to 2 series loss to the Seattle Supersonics. Walton won the NBA MVP award but was demanding a trade because of his unhappiness with the medical treatment available.

Walton was not traded, so he played one more season for the Portland Trailblazers before leaving through free agency. Lucas then left in 1980 and the future dynasty ended several seasons too early. The next few seasons saw the team remain competitive thanks to players like Mychal Thompson (who took over for Walton), Fat Lever, Jim Paxon, and Wayne Cooper, but the success of the 1976-77 season was too far away.

The next truly great Portland Trailblazers player came through the 1983 draft. The year before Michael Jordan was the most coveted guard in the league, Clyde Drexler was a steal at the number 13 pick. Drexler gave the Portland Trailblazers a superstar whose athleticism and basketball skills would make him one of the greatest players in NBA history. The next season, the Blazers ended up with the second pick in the draft and famously took Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan.

Though the pick is criticized now, then the team already had an outstanding young guard and wanted a premier post player to replace Walton and Lucas. Bowie had an outstanding college career and was destined for great things in the NBA, at least until injuries became the plague of his career. The Portland Trailblazers kept on playing in the postseason, but were stuck in the first round. Instead, they were able to build an impressive roster while remaining competitive.

They added point guard Terry Porters and Kike Vandeweghe. Porter and Drexler became the cornerstones of the team that grew under the new ownership of Paul Allen. Allen purchased the team in 1988 and players like Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth took their place in the starting lineup. Rick Adelman was given the reigns as coach and the Portland Trailblazers exploded.

The Blazers followed a rough 1988-89 season with a terrific 1989-90 season which saw them win 59 games and visit the NBA Finals for the first time since 1976. The club lost to the Detroit Pistons, but became a constant threat. The team followed with a 63-19 season in 1990-91, but suffered a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the conference finals. The 1991-92 season ended with another trip to the NBA Finals, but also with another loss, this time to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.

The team remained very competitive, but could not seem to get out of the first round for the next few season. The Portland Trailblazers lost the players that created such excitement – Kevin Duckworth, Buck Williams, Cliff Robinson, Jerome Kersey, and Clyde Drexler- and began to put a new competitive roster together.

Arvydas Sabonis, Steve Smith, Damon Stoudamire, and Rasheed Wallace became the new faces of the franchise. The Portland Trailblazers were stuck in the conference finals though. Evene the addition of Scottie Pippen in 1999 could not put the team over the edge, as they seemed to self-destruct whenever given the chance.

Thos self-destructive tendencies moved from the conference finals to the regular season schedule. The team became known as the Jail Blazers for the rash of off-the-court incidents with the law. The atmosphere upset the team makeup and several players left the Portland Trailblazers, while young talent took over the club. Players like Zach Randolph, Qyntel Woods, Ruben Patterson, and Jermaine O’Neal were immensely talented, but flawed by immature actions that tore the team apart.

The team was eventually purged and given a chance to start over. Now the Portland Trailblazers again have collected great young players. Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, and LaMarcus Aldridge are the new faces of what management will be a new dynasty at the Rose Garden