Word: portlanders
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...When Portland Trail Blazer Coach Jack Ramsay arrived to take over his duties last spring, he announced: "I'm a Bill Walton man." The declaration made him a minority of one in the Pacific Northwest...
...like seasons, Portland fans had waited in vain for Walton to become again the fierce-eyed force that once drove John Wooden's finest U.C.L.A. teams. They had waited for the 6-ft. 11-in. redhead to sweep the backboards of rebounds and to show them the best big-man's passing game in the history of the sport. But he burdened them with ramblings about FBI bugs in the woodwork. The Trail Blazers had counted on his size and strength to muscle them out of expansion-team doldrums and into the joyful world of N.B.A. contenders. Instead...
Profound Change. Now, at last, the patience of the long-suffering Portland fans has been rewarded. Led by a reborn Bill Walton, the Blazers this season finished second in the N.B.A.'s Pacific division and made a four-game sweep of the first-place Los Angeles Lakers in the play-off semifinals, earning the right to meet the favored Philadelphia 76ers for the championship in a best-of-seven series beginning this week. Portland's sound team play should match up well against the freewheeling superstar style of the Julius Ervingand George McGinnis-led 76ers...
Walton played in almost as many games this season (65) as he had played in the previous two combined. That his presence made the difference was dramatically demonstrated by Portland's performance when he did not play. Of those 17 Walton-less games, Portland won only five-a percentage barely above that of the hapless New York Nets. As the season wore on and Walton did not wear out, Portland was struck by an unfamiliar notion: the championship was within reach...
...Commissioner Larry O'Brien ever give up trying to get his name in the papers? You know basketball has reached a sorry state of affairs when the NBA champion is crowned after the running of the annually rain-shortened Indy 500. By the way, go with Philly over Portland in six, as the Doctah shows Walton what omnivores do to herbivores...