1977 Portland Trail Blazers

Portland went 49-33 and finished second in the Pacific Division, but the record undersold them. They had the best point differential in the league, built on Ramsay's motion offense and Walton's passing from the high post. The Blazers had entered the NBA in 1970 and missed the playoffs in each of their first six seasons. This was the first time they qualified.

Walton was the engine. He averaged 18.6 points, 14.4 rebounds, and 3.2 blocks while leading the league in the latter two categories, though a foot that would later wreck his career held him to 65 games. Lucas carried the offense at 20.2 a night. Lionel Hollins and Dave Twardzik split the backcourt, and Bob Gross did the unglamorous work on the wing.

The Finals started badly. Philadelphia took the first two in the Spectrum, and Game 2 ended in a brawl after Lucas confronted Darryl Dawkins. Portland answered by winning the next four, smothering the 76ers with team defense and ball movement. Walton took Finals MVP, and the clincher came at home in front of a sold-out Memorial Coliseum.

The run launched the stretch fans called Blazermania, with Portland selling out every home game for more than a decade. Walton's body did not cooperate. He played only 58 games the next season and left in 1979, and the franchise has not been back to the top since.

The league was smaller than it is today, but the 1977 playoffs still required beating the best teams in the division and then the other side of the bracket. Title paths from this era are shorter on paper than a modern run, yet the Finals still decided the champion.

The starting five was Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas, Lionel Hollins, Bob Gross, and Johnny Davis. Jack Ramsay coached the group with Herm Gilliam as the primary bench scorer.

The full roster ran deeper than the headline names. Role players who mattered included Dave Twardzik (efficient starting guard who shot .612 from the field).

By 1977 the NBA had expanded nationwide and the Finals were a national television event. The Portland Trail Blazers title run still required winning the East or West bracket, then taking the championship round.

The Portland Trail Blazers have only this one title in the record covered on Ring Holders Club. That makes the 1977 run the whole of the franchise's championship story in our archive.

Looking back, the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers won the only title in franchise history, and they did it in the first playoff trip the team had ever made. Bill Walton ran the show, leading the league in both rebounding and blocked shots while Jack Ramsay's passing offense moved around him. Maurice Lucas supplied the scoring and the muscle. Portland dropped the first two games of the Finals to Julius Erving's 76ers, then won four in a row.

For the full roster beyond the featured starters, see the table on this page. For other Portland Trail Blazers titles, use the franchise hub linked below.