One of the teams in NBA history that remind me of the Thunder is the 1977 Portland TrailBlazers, one of the most celebrated teams ever. The Blazers and Thunder are not necessarily alike in style or process.
That Portland team was built around Bill Walton, who when healthy was one of the great centers of all time. Walton rarely was healthy. Walton missed three full seasons and played more than 51 games only three times. But when Walton was on the court, he was fabulous. The Thunder does not at all play through a center. OKC is a perimeter-oriented team.
Those Blazers also came from nowhere. They were 38-44 in 1974-75, Walton’s rookie year, then 37-45 in 1975-76. Even in 1976-77, Portland was just 49-33, good for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference but not exactly a regular-season juggernaut. Conversely, the NBA world has seen the Thunder coming for three years. OKC won 50 games in 2009-10 and gave the Lakers a great battle in the playoffs. Then OKC won 55 games in 2010-11 and reached the West finals. Now this season, when the Thunder has been among the league favorites all year.
But the great similarity is in age. This Thunder team remains incredibly young. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are 23. James Harden and Serge Ibaka are 22. Its four best players are under 24. Thabo Sefolosha is 28, Kendrick Perkins 27.
Those Blazers were even younger. Walton and power forward Maurice Lucas were 24. Forward Bob Gross was 23. Guards Lionel Hollins (23) and Johnny Davis (21) rounded out the starting lineup. An amazingly-youthful lineup.
And now the Thunder is trying to replicate the Blazers. Portland stormed through the 1977, beating the Bulls 2-1, Denver 4-2 and the Lakers 4-0. But then came the NBA Finals against the favored 76ers of Julius Erving and George McGinnis. Philadelphia won only 50 games that year (the Lakers had the league’s best record, 53-29; the modern NBA could use parity like that), but the Sixers were considered the emerging dynasty.
It looked like Portland had reached the end of its road after the first two games in Philly â€" the Sixers won 107-101, then 107-89. But then the Blazers returned home to what was considered the best home crowd in the league (another Thunder likeness) and blasted the 76ers, 129-107 and 130-98.
So then came Game 5 back in Philadelphia. And that’s when the series turned and a legendary team was born. The Blazers played phenomenally, took a 22-point lead, fought off Philly in the fourth quarter and won 110-104. Two nights later back in Portland, Walton had 20 points, 23 rebounds, seven assists and eight blocked shots as the Blazers won 109-107 for the championship.
The Thunder is trying the same pattern. Two discouraging road losses to open this series against San Antonio. Losses that left most of us wondering if OKC could stand up to the Spurs. But then two impressive home victories, with a Game 5 that could serve as a launch to a championship.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
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