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Back In The Day: Where Rivalries Come From

03/09/10

  1. Written by: trailblazers  / avg. rating: 5.0

    Trail Blazers vs Lakers
    By Wayne Thompson, blazers.com Senior Writer

    If you ever wondered why it is that Trail Blazer fans hate the Los Angeles Lakers so much, just take a look back to the seeds of that hate -- Portland’s first three seasons in the NBA.

    In 17 games between the two teams in those days, the Blazers never came close to beating LA. That’s no doubt the origin of all of those “Beat LA” chants and signs we see today at Blazer-Laker games.

    Maybe it was the fear of the dark side of basketballs nature or a hunch that the Lakers represented a supernatural demon that could only be stopped through some sort of exorcism. Whatever the cause, most Blazer fans in the early 1970s were beginning to believe that their team would never beat the Lakers.

    Indeed, the Lakers of Wilt Chamberlain and Jerry West, to most Blazer fans, were not just invincible in the basketball sense, there were suspicions that they were aided by forces of the devil -- Damn Yankees in short shorts.

    Then it happened on All-Hallows Eve, 1973 -- a fitting time of year for the fledging Trail Blazers who had been haunted since birth by the Lakers, to perform the long-awaited exorcism of the Lakers.

    No doubt in cahoots with the goblins, ghouls, witches and warlocks, the Lakers had come to Portland a day earlier to go trick-or-treating and to flaunt their 17-game hex over the Blazers.

    It didn't appear that the Laker curse would be broken as the teams approached All-Saints Eve with contrasting characters -- the Lakers cast as Dracula, the Blazers in the role of a victim with a long neck.

    The Lakers for three seasons simply had put the Blazers in a trance.   Entering the 1973-74 season, every NBA team except Portland had registered at least one victory against every team on its schedule.

    Portland's Laker record: 0-16 and counting.

    Indeed, just two days earlier in Los Angeles, the Lakers stretched that to 17-0, embarrassing the Blazers, 111-98. In that game, Laker guard Gail Goodrich scored a career-high 49 points and center Elmer Smith set an NBA record with 17   blocked shots -- a standard that still stands today.

    Think of it: Elmer Smith, a 7-foot-1 journeyman center in the midst of a mediocre career, was blocking Blazer shots at the rate of one every two minutes. Tales from the crypt, indeed.

    So when the Lakers came to Portland's Memorial Coliseum, Oct. 30, 1973, the day before Halloween, more than 5,000 Blazers fans came disguised as empty seats. That is to say a crowd of only 7,395 fans were visible. Expectations that the hex would be broken were dashed as the game progressed because the Lakers, behind Goodrich and Jerry West, built an 18-point lead with only 3:56 left in the third period.

    Then the strangest thing happened. The Lakers’   voodoo began to wear off.   Indeed, the Blazers, as if the demons had switched sides, staged one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history, sparked by a rookie named Bernie Fryer who came off the bench to fuel the rally.

    Fryer’s late-game heroics were supported by three other Blazers’ reserves -- Ollie Johnson, Greg Smith and Rick Roberson. In the end, the small crowd became so boisterous with their foot-stomping and screams, you’d swear that some of them came disguised as standing-room only.

    With the Lakers leading 81-63, Fryer and John Johnson each scored six points as the Blazers closed to within eight points by the end of the third period.   Portland continued its run into the fourth, outscoring the Lakers, 22-6, to cut the deficit to 87-85 with 10:31 left in the game.

    During the rally, Fryer lit a fire in the face of the Laker gargoyles with a couple of steals and three straight free throws. But it was the lefty Smith who connected on two crucial field goals from inside the key to provide the tying and go-ahead points as the crowd began to sense that the broomsticks were on their side this time.

    After that, there were three more ties before Roberson’s layup after    a rebound and Ollie Johnson’s four three throws gave Portland a brief cushion. But the Lakers, playing like proud warlocks all,   stormed back to tie it once more at 111-111.   Roberson again answered with a tip-in. Portland up, 113-111.

    The teams exchanged missed free throws, giving the Lakers another chance to tie it, but Ollie Johnson out hustled a Laker for a loose ball and passed to Fryer who was fouled and sank the winning free throw.

    Still, the Lakers had one more chance with just two seconds remaining, but John Johnson intercepted LA’s inbound pass to break the Laker hex and end the curse.   It was as if someone had kicked over the Lakers’ steaming cauldron of magic potion.
     
    After the game, JJ told The Oregonian’s beat reporter Neil Andersen how he was able to intercept the pass and end the Laker curse.

    “I watched Bill Bridges’ (the inbound passer) eyes. I know he’s not a good passer. Goodrich was behind me and Jerry was going out of the corner, so I knew they’d be going to their best, so that’s the lane I played.”

    JJ, though, gave the victory garlic to the bench crew. “Give the credit to Ollie, Killer (Greg Smith’s nickname) and Bernie,” said JJ, whose 20 points, 14 rebounds and big steal were just as large.

    Fryer, a native of Bellingham, Wash., who played his college ball at Brigham Young, was singled out for special praise by Blazers’ Coach Jack McCloskey. “Bernie showed a lot of courage. He was hard-nosed, ran well and did a lot of fundamental things right.”

    For his part, Fryer was as nonchalant about his pressure-shooting as someone who takes shortcuts through graveyards without whistling.

    “I love the pressure,” he said afterwards, offering a hint of his future 28-year-long career as one of the NBA officiating crew and currently as the NBA’s Director of Officials.   “I want to be on the foul line when it’s tough. Anybody else could have done the same thing, but I want it to be me,” Fryer said at the time.

    Portland had many heroes actually. Roberson had 21 points, a game-high 15 rebounds and four blocked shots, coming off the bench.   And Geoff Petrie, whose 26 points led the Blazers, drew praise from West who said, “Geoff is one of the most outstanding players in the NBA. You can’t really stop him, only try to slow him down.   I’m impressed with Portland,” West added, “There’s no question it is the most improved team in the league.”

    Lakers’ Coach Bill Shaman agreed with West, adding   that the Blazers would no longer be the Lakers’ patsies.   “That club definitely is a contender for a playoff spot. The trade that brought Roberson and John Johnson to Portland   was very big for them,” he said.

    So it came to pass on Oct. 30, 1973 -- the day before Halloween --   that the Laker hex over Portland was broken. But a few goblins apparently hung around the Blazers for the rest of the season because they didn’t make the playoffs as Sharman and West had predicted.

    But then the once-seemingly supernatural Lakers also proved that season that they no longer were part of the occult world.

    And even today, some 37 years later, we recently saw the reversal of that curse as the Blazers, despite a won-lost record inferior to the Lakers over the past five seasons, won nine straight games against LA in the Rose Garden. Apparently those “Beat LA” chants, like St. John’s Wort did for the ancient Greeks, , does a pretty good job of casting out devels and repelling the Laker demons.
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