1977 Overview
From Hoopedia
1976-77 NBA Season
The Portland Trail Blazers had lived six NBA seasons without a winning record. Then, for one special campaign, center Bill Walton got healthy and Blazer fans discovered they lived in Rip City.
Portland’s success came at a time of change in pro basketball.
Four teams from the disbanded ABA -- the New York Nets, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs -- became NBA franchises for a fee of $3.2 million per team. The NBA used a dispersal draft to gobble up the rest of the ABA players, including imposing 7-2 center Artis Gilmore of the Kentucky Colonels.
Portland, greatly improved under Coach Jack Ramsay, snared a scorer and rebounder from the ashes of the ABA in 6-9 Maurice Lucas, and he provided the toughness to complement the all-around skills of Walton. The rest of the team consisted of consummate role players: small forward Bobby Gross, point guard Dave Twardzik and shooting guard Lionel Hollins.
The central figure, of course, was Walton, the son of a San Diego social worker. Off the court, he was a counterculture kind of guy with long red hair. On the court, he was the picture of precision, the ultimate passing center, schooled and polished in every phase of the game.
“He’s another one who made all the players around him better,” said John Wooden, his coach at UCLA. “He was probably the greatest at getting the ball off the boards and initiating a fast break.”
Those skills would enable Walton to become UCLA’s career assists leader, a remarkable feat for a center, and a sign of his great pro potential, a potential that had gone largely unrealized during his first two seasons because of injuries.
The addition of four ABA franchises brought the NBA to 22 teams, and the playoffs were restructured so that 12 teams qualified, with the four division winners receiving first-round byes.
In that crowd, the Trail Blazers prospered despite not winning their division in the regular season. Ramsay’s team beat Chicago, Denver and the Lakers on their way to the Finals, but the Blazers’ big challenge came in the first round, against the revived Bulls.
In the ABA dispersal draft, Chicago had paid $1 million to acquire Gilmore, who had led the Kentucky Colonels to the 1975 ABA title. The presence of the 7-2, 240-pound Gilmore created a rush of hope in Chicago, but then the Bulls got off to a 4-15 start. By February, Chicago found a chemistry and charged from a 21-31 start and the bottom of the standings to a 44-38 finish and a tense playoff series against the eventual-champion Trail Blazers. The run, dubbed the “Miracle On Madison” by the media, excited all of Chicago and brought a string of sellout crowds to the Stadium.
“The Bulls were our toughest series that year,” Ramsay recalled. “They had a very good team. Artis Gilmore had probably his best season ever. We split the first two games, and the third and final game was in Portland. By the time we reached the closing minutes, several guys on each side had fouled out. We had a lead, but Chicago closed the gap. We got down to the nub of the game, and we were ahead by two.”
The Bulls had the ball with 15 seconds left, trailing by two, but in attempting to inbound the ball, Chicago’s John Mengelt tossed it in the basket, a violation that allowed the Blazers to escape.
In the Finals, Portland met the 76ers, led by former ABA superstar Julius Erving. Philadelphia won the first two at home, but then Walton cut his long red hair and the Blazers got down to business, sweeping four straight.
Blazermania overwhelmed Portland, which became known as Rip City after one of radio announcer Bill Schonley’s favorite calls, describing the sound a ball makes going through the net.
