A Look At The First 6 Classic Trail Blazers Game Set To Air During NBA Suspension

NBC Sports Northwest has some big holes in its broadcast schedule left by the NBA season being suspended, depriving the network of its main reason for exiting – broadcasting Portland Trail Blazers games. To fill them, NBCSNW is showing, well, Trail Blazers games.

Classic ones.

From the department of obvious, but necessary, ideas, NBCSNW has picked 12 classic Blazers games to broadcast starting with the franchise’s signature moment, the 1977 NBA Finals, which will air Sunday at 4 p.m. The games, which will be shown through April 15, span 42 years and five decades, although the 2010s are the most heavily represented with six games, understandable since the video quality will be much, much better than the who-knows-what-aspect-ratio of the 1977 Finals.

Here’s a closer look at the first six games (spoiler alert if you want to watch fresh):

Sunday, March 22, 4 p.m.: The 1977 NBA Finals. Video quality be damned, this one is a must watch, even if it likely will be a highlight compilation from the six games against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blazers, of course, lost the first two games, and Game 2 included the classic brawl between Maurice Lucas and Darryl Dawkins. Even 43 years later, the championship remains the high point of sports in the state of Oregon.

Tuesday, March 24, 6 p.m.: Game 3 of the 2019 playoff series against Denver. This is the four-OT classic that lasted 3 hours, 25 minutes, highlighted Rodney Hood’s greatest moment with the Blazers.

Wednesday, March 25, 6 p.m.:  Game 5 of a 2000 playoff series against Utah, which had its classic core of Karl Malone, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek. For a contest in which the teams totaled 160 points, the game was dramatic, with the score tied 13 games, and was perhaps Scottie Pippen’s greatest moment as a Portland player.

Friday, March 27, 6 p.m.: A March 28, 2017 game in which Jusuf Nurkic, in his 19^th game after joining the Blazers via a trade from Denver, plays against the Nuggets for the first time and puts on a dominant performance. It also was a great game for CJ McCollum. A reminder of just how good Nurkic, who has not played in over a year, can be.

Sunday, March 29, 4:30 p.m.: The emotional Game 4 against Dallas in a 2011 first-round playoff series. Brandon Roy, fourth quarter, get some tissues.

Monday, March 30, 6 p.m.: Game 7 of the 2019 playoff series against Denver. Those who bag on CJ McCollum should have this on their DVR. A huge performance in a historic road win.