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Portland Trail Blazers

Basketball

By MBPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
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The Portland Trail Blazers is a professional American basketball team based in Portland, Oregon, and is simply called the Blazers. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association, as a part of the NBA's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team played its home games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995. Between 1977 to 1995, the franchise sold out 814 straight home games, the longest such streak in all professional sports in America at the time, and only since the Boston Red Sox surpassed that, the club entered the league as an expansion team in 1970. The Trail Blazers became the last NBA team located in the bi-national Pacific Northwest, after the Vancouver Grizzlies relocated to Memphis and became the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001 and the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. Sports promoter Harry Glickman desired the National Basketball Association's Portland franchise as far back as 1955, where he suggested two new expansion teams, the other one located in Los Angeles. As the Coliseum Memorial opened in 1960, Glickman saw the potential it could bring as a professional basketball venue, but it wasn't until February 6, 1970, that the NBA's board of directors gave him the rights to a Portland franchise. Glickman partnered with the real estate magnates of New Jersey's Robert Schmertz, Los Angeles 'Larry Weinberg, and Seattle's Herman Sarkowsky to receive the $3.7 million entrance fee funds. Two weeks later, on 24 February, team members held a contest to select the project name and received more than 10,000 submissions. "Pioneers" was the most popular choice, but that name was omitted from the list because it was already used by the Lewis & Clark College in Portland for sports teams. The name "Trail Blazers" earned 172 entries and was ultimately chosen by the reviewing jury and revealed on March 13 at the Memorial Coliseum in the half-time of a SuperSonics contest. Driven by explorers constructing trails through the mountains through the trail burning process, Glickman named it a name that could "represent both the ruggedness of the Pacific Northwest and the beginning of a major league era in our community. In Portland, the name Trail Blazers became popular in the middle of the initial mixed reaction, often shortened to simply "Blazers." During the 1980s the team became a consistent presence in the NBA each season, failing to qualify for the playoffs alone in 1982. However, they never advanced beyond the semi-finals of the conference during the decade. During the decade, the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the NBA's Pacific Division, and only the Lakers and the Houston Rockets represented the Western Conference in the NBA Finals. Core players for the Blazers during the early 1980's included Mychal Thompson, Billy Ray Bates, Fat Lever, Darnell Valentine, Wayne Cooper, T. R. Dunn, Jim Paxson, and Calvin Natt. The Blazers finished the 2014 season with 21 more wins than the previous season, which led to the largest single-season improvement in franchise history. This involves a November run in which they played 11 straight games and 13–2 overall during the month that coach Terry Stotts took off the Coach Month honors. On 12 December 2013, Aldridge scored 31 points and pulled down 25 rebounds against the Rockets in a home game, the first time a Trail Blazers player posted a 30-point, 25-rebound result. On 14 December 2013, the Blazers made a franchise record 21 3-pointers against the Philadelphia 76ers. 19 days later, they tied the current record against the Charlotte Bobcats, becoming the first NBA player to score 20 or more three-pointers in a game more than once in a season. Lillard was named as a starter to his first All-Star game, joining Aldridge in representing Portland at the tournament. Portland had finished 54–28, securing a fifth seed in the playoffs against the Rockets. The squad also shot 81.5 percent at the free throw line, made 770 three-pointers, and played four positions in all 82 regular-season games, all franchise records.

basketball
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About the Creator

MB

I am a bird aficionado and really enjoy spotting them them on hikes. I greatly appreciate the variety of birds cross North America and the world. They are amazing and intelligent creatures, each so unique and with a wonderful life.

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