'77 Blazers vs. '99 Blazers

Sporting News, The, June 7, 1999 by Steve Kelley

The comparisons are inevitable.

The Trail Blazers are the only game in town in Portland, and whenever they advance this far in the playoffs, they awaken the echoes of 1977.

Isaiah Rider and Brian Grant

Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas.

The 1977 team was Portland's first playoff team. It remains the city's only world championship team.

It hypnotized the town.

It taught Portland how to play the game.

Damon Stoudamire and Arvydas Sabonis.

Lionel Hollins and Bobby Gross.

The passing on the 1977 team was poetry.

A Gross backcut. A Walton quick flick from the high post. A Gross lay-up.

A Walton rebound. An outlet to Hollins already streaking down the sideline. A pass to Johnny Davis for a lay-up.

Greg Anthony and Rasheed Wallace.

Lloyd Neal and Larry Steele.

The comparisons come as easily as the deafening cheers.

And the comparisons tell us a lot about the changes in the NBA game.

The championship Trail Blazers were beautiful. They made a Tuesday in January against the Kansas City Kings feel special.

They were lithe and quick and ran with the restlessness of Irish setters.

Stacey Augmon and Jim Jackson.

Dave Twardzik and Herm Gilliam.

The championship Blazers played the game like clinicians. Their connect-the-dots offense looked like a chalkboard come to life.

You didn't dare leave early during a blowout. You felt like you were in the presence of greatness.

Jack Ramsay.

Mike Dunleavy.

The basketball I.Q. of the '77 Blazers was genius level.

Three of their significant contributors--Hollins, Davis, Steele--became coaches. Another regular--Twardzik--became a player personnel director.

They scored points.

In their four wins over the 76ers in the NBA Finals, the Blazers' lowest point total was 109. They scored 130 in the win that tied the series at 2-2--and there was no 3-point line.

The most points the '99 Blazers scored in their Western Conference semifinal series against Utah was 97. The Blazers scored 71 points in the Game 5 loss.

Walton didn't grab a rebound and cradle the ball as if it were a holy tablet the way Sabonis does.

Walton didn't hand it off to Hollins so Hollins could walk it ever-so-slowly up the floor the way Stoudamire and Anthony often do.

Gross didn't back, back, back, slowly toward the basket while his four teammates cleared out and watched him go one-on-one.

Rider does.

The game has changed.

For the worse.

Style has been compromised.

Fights broke out in the 1970s. The heavyweight haymakers from Maurice Lucas and Darryl Dawkins in the second game of the '77 series should be shown on ESPN's classic fights.

But the game wasn't all homing and flailing. It didn't looking like a bad night at the prom.

Where have all the backcuts gone? The 18-foot jump shots? The outlet passes? The fast breaks?

In 1977, players didn't lead with their elbows. They didn't flop like flounders at the slightest brush from an arm.

The game has changed. The players are bigger, more muscled.

Lucas was considered an enforcer in 1977. He'd look like a waif today.

This isn't meant as a slam at the '99 Trail Blazers. They are playing the game the way it has evolved. Their whirlybird defense is smothering.

But watching this team makes me nostalgic for the '77 team.

It makes me ache for a fast break. It makes me wish I could see one more Walton outlet pass.

It makes me wish I could see Hollins racing down the sideline one more time, a sprinter ready to trigger a pass to a teammate cutting toward the basket.

It makes me wish I could see those Blazers roll seamlessly into their offense when their fast break stalls.

That team was one for the ages.

Those Blazers were Showtime before Magic and the Lakers.

The league would do well to remember that team and return a little style and a little speed to its game.

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