The 2000 Portland Trail Blazers were on the verge of beating the Shaq & Kobe led Lakers in Game 7 of Western Conference Finals, but disaster struck. After being up by 13 points heading into the fourth quarter, it all fell apart. The Blazers were outscored 31-13 in the final quarter and would lose 89-84.
Portland was talented and deep at every position in 2000. Led by Scottie Pippen and Rasheed Wallace, the team won 59 games that season, which was the second-best record in the league behind the Lakers.
Here is Portland’s depth chart, according to basketball-reference.com. Look how deep they were at every position:
Point Guard: Damon Stoudamire, Greg Anthony, Gary Grant
Shooting Guard: Steve Smith, Stacey Augmon
Small Forward: Scottie Pippen, Detlef Schrempf, Bonzi Wells
Power Forward: Rasheed Wallace, Brian Grant, Antonio Harvey
Center: Arvydas Sabonis, Jermaine O’Neal, Joe Kleine
Former Blazers star Bonzi Wells, who was apart of the 2000 Blazers, believes Portland would have been a juggernaut for years to come if they would have beaten the Lakers on that day.
“We would have been a dynasty,” Wells told goforitradio.com. “Back then, we were too black for TV. They did not want us to win no championship. They wanted the darlings. We were just too much for TV; we were too street for them.”
Things were never the same in Portland after 2000. If you remember, the “Jail Blazers” era began in Portland. During that time, many players on those teams were getting into a lot of trouble off the court.
In the end, if they beat the Lakers in WCF, they probably beat the Pacers in the NBA Finals in 2000. After that, who knows what would have happened.
Listen below as Wells talks 2000 Blazers. BIG3, “Super Teams” in the NBA, and LeBron to the Lakers:
