2014 Playoffs vs Rockets Series

Lore & Background

The team's rallying cry is 'Rip City', coined by play-by-play announcer Bill Schonely during their inaugural season. Harry Glickman became interested in creating an NBA team in his hometown of Portland when Memorial Coliseum opened in 1960, but the NBA commissioner at the time, Maurice Podoloff, refused on the grounds that Portland was too far west. However, Podoloff's successor, J. Walter Kennedy, expanded the league into the West throughout the 1960s. On February 6, 1970, the NBA board of governors granted Portland – along with Buffalo, New York, and Cleveland – the rights to a franchise in return for a $3.7 million admission. The name 'Trail Blazers' was suggested by 172 people, and was ultimately selected by a drawing on March 13. Blake Byrne, the general sales manager of KPTV at the time, was the winner of the drawing and received two season tickets for the inaugural season. Derived from the trail blazing activity by explorers making paths through forests, Glickman considered it a name that could 'reflect both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the start of a major league era in our state'.

Reader's Guide

The Blazers selected the first players to join their team in the 1970 NBA draft. The team chose Geoff Petrie eighth overall, making him the first draft pick in franchise history. A couple months later, they took part in the 1970 NBA expansion draft to further fill out their inaugural roster. The Blazers played their first game on October 16, 1970 against fellow expansion team the Cleveland Cavaliers, which they won 115–112. The team went on to have a season record of 29 wins and 53 losses, with Petrie winning co-Rookie of the Year, sharing the honor with Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics. The Blazers had the third worst record in the NBA that season, only ahead of the Cavaliers and the season's other expansion team, the Buffalo Braves. In their second season, they had just 18 wins to go along with 64 losses which still remains as the fewest wins in a season in franchise history. Led by head coach Jack Ramsay, the Blazers had their first winning record during the 1976–77 season, in which they made the playoffs for the first time, and went on to win the 1977 NBA Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers 4–2. They were the second team in NBA history to come back from an 0–2 deficit in the Finals to win the series, and the first team to win four straight games after losing the first two. Bill Walton was named the Finals MVP. The following season, Walton was named the NBA MVP after leading the Blazers to the best record in the league with 58 wins and 24 losses. The team was unable to defend their title, losing to the Seattle SuperSonics in the conference semifinals. In the 1980s, the Blazers made the playoffs every season except 1981–82. In the 1983 draft, the team selected Clyde Drexler 14th overall, who would greatly contribute to the team's playoff streak, becoming one of the best players in franchise history. After multiple consecutive seasons of first round losses in the playoffs, the Ramsay era ended after the 1986 season, and Ramsay was replaced by Mike Schuler. Schuler only lasted two and a half years before he was fired during the 1988–89 season and replaced by former Blazers player Rick Adelman. In his first full season, Adelman led the Blazers to the 1990 NBA Finals, but the team lost 4–1 to the Detroit Pistons.

Did You Know?

• From 1977 through 1995, the team sold out 814 consecutive home games, the longest such streak in American major professional sports at the time.
• Damian Lillard is the franchise's all-time points leader with 19,376 points and also holds the team record for most three-point field goals made with 2,387.