Here's an odd question: what Blazers team was most dominant over a 20 game stretch? I picked 20 games just because ten seemed too short, and a season seems too easy. I'm just wondering what incarnation of the Blazers looked most unbeatable for that period of time, measured by whatever metric you like - largest margin of victory would be the most obvious. I'm asking because I don't know how you would find this out. But I'm guessing that the 1978 Blazers pre-Walton-Injury are a pretty good candidate.
I was going to say the 20 best games are the ones at the end of the '77 season but you're right (and yes I'm THAT OLD) that next season when they were 50-10 before the injury. That team was a thing of beauty, they worked so fluidly together I think we would have had several championships if Walton had stayed healthy. The 1991 team was really the best in the league that year and if it weren't for one brilliant play by Magic Johnson they probably would've had a good chance against the Bulls. They hadn't won a title yet with MJ. By the next year when they got the Bulls (for their first repeat) nobody could beat them.
The 90-91 Blazers. They started out the season on a 19-1 tear, doing so over heavy hitters Houston, @ Lakers, the defending champion Pistons by 12, the would-be champion Bulls by 13, Spurs by 14, Jazz, & @ Chicago by 8. But it wasn't a fluke. They ended the year on a 16 game winning streak (would have been 17 but rested the starters on the last game of the year in a loss to Phoenix). That streak included 9 road wins, including the Lakers, Sonics, and completing the Texas Trio ( a 3 game in 4 night stretch at Houston, Dallas, & San Antonio). It's a damn shame that team didn't win a ring. They were by far the most talented team that year but cracked at the most inopportune time.
i think the road trip whee they tore up florida and texas a couple years back was pretty nice, didnt they also get boston?
Didn't the 92-93 Blazers (minus Ainge, plus Rod Strickland and Mario Elie) start out really well too? Everyone was expecting the new Barkley Suns to be better, but I think the Blazers went like 17-3 or something. Of course then they went to shit and got bounced in the first round (first of many)...
Nailed it. I've never seen ANY other team play basketball as flawless as they did racking up that awesome record. Had Walton not been injured, that team would now be known as the best team of all time in the history of the NBA.
They actually went 14-6 in their first 20 games but did start out 8-0. Only reason we lost in the first round is because Clyde was injured, In fact, that whole year was terrible for injuries. We actually had the talent, if healthy, to make it back to the Finals.
