On this date in 1992: Blazers clinch playoff series versus Lakers in Vegas

The Portland Trail Blazers began their 1992 postseason with an odd first-round series victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Portland Trail Blazers had a momentous season in 1991-1992. They won 57 games, the fourth-highest win total in franchise history, and finished first in the Western Conference. And they made it to the NBA Finals for the second time in three seasons, falling in six games to the defending champion — and Michael Jordan-led — Chicago Bulls.

But as noteworthy as the season was for those Blazers, it paled in comparison to the strange saga of their first-round playoff opponent: the Los Angeles Lakers.

Magic’s HIV Announcement

The Lakers’ 1991-1992 campaign was barely underway when the franchise — and the entire sports world, really — was hit with an absolute bombshell.

I remember watching this press conference and feeling heartbroken. I hated the Lakers, but this was something that transcended the petty dramas of sports fandom. Magic Johnson, just 32 years old, was already a legend at this point in his career, and this announcement seemed cruel and bewildering.

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And that’s how the Lakers season started.

Playing much — but not all — of the ’91-’92 season with an aging skeleton crew of A.C. Green, Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, Sedale Threatt and James Worthy, the Lakers won just 43 games. They snuck into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the West, almost missing the playoffs entirely for the first time in 16 years.

L.A. Riots

The Lakers season ended with as much, if not more, human drama than it began.

On April 29, 1992, a jury acquitted four L.A. police officers of using excessive force in the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

Within hours of the verdict, riots began to spread throughout the L.A. metro area.

Lakers/Blazers First-Round Series

Portland won the first two games of the five-game series at home in Memorial Coliseum. They played Game 3 on the road in what was then called the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles. It was the night of the King verdict. The Lakers won 121-119, their only win of the series.

But the victory was overshadowed by what was happening outside the arena.

Then-Lakers General Manager Jerry West put it this way:

"“It really was pretty scary. … I don’t think unless you had been there you can fully comprehend the importance and severity of it all. It wasn’t a pleasant time for the people in the city of Los Angeles. That night we were concerned about the safety of our fans and players because everyone was so angry.”"

Game 4 Moved to Las Vegas

The Great Western Forum in Inglewood was just a few blocks from the epicenter of the rioting. And it was within a curfew zone implemented by then-Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley.

A.C. Green described the scene he experienced after Game 3.

"“It was pretty much a ghost town heading to my car, which was pretty alarming because that had never happened before. When I finally got in my car, I wasn’t more than a half a block away before I saw emergency lights and drove a few more blocks and actually heard gunfire. That’s when I put the windows up, turned the radio off and tried to get out of there and off the streets as fast as I could. I didn’t know what would happen next.”"

Thus, Game 4, originally scheduled for May 1 in the Forum, was first postponed and then moved to Sunday, May 3, at Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center.

The Utah Jazz-Los Angeles Clippers series was also relocated due to the riots; they played their Game 4 at the Anaheim Convention Center. Additionally, baseball’s Dodgers and Giants postponed games.

Basketball history will show that the Blazers clinched the series by winning Game 4, 102-76. The Lakers shot just 37 percent from the field — perhaps a final sign of just how disruptive their season had been. And they played the series minus not only Johnson, but Worthy (knee injury) and Perkins (shoulder injury).

Aftermath

Mark Heisler, then a sportswriter for the Los Angeles Times, described the mood after the Blazers eliminated the wounded, distracted Lakers from the playoffs.

"Good night, sweet Lakers. What began with a personal tragedy that gripped the world, ends amid a community’s tragedy that gripped the world anew. In between, the Lakers overcame superior force, were matched against a more superior force and finally succumbed Sunday in a “home” game far from home, 102-76, to the Portland Trail Blazers, who won the series, 3-1. It was the first time in 11 seasons the Lakers had been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs."

The L.A. Riots would last through May 4, 1992.

As for the Blazers, they would go on to beat the Phoenix Suns in five games in the Western Conference Semifinals and the Jazz in six games in the Western Conference Finals. The Bulls, however, would prove too much to handle, beating the Blazers in six games in the NBA Finals.

That series loss would mark the beginning of the end for what was an incredibly successful run for the Portland Trail Blazers. They haven’t been to the NBA Finals since.

Next: 2014: Lillard makes ‘The Shot,’ etches ‘0.9’ into Rip City lore

The Lakers would fare much better in the ensuing years. Magic Johnson actually returned to play a portion of the 1995-1996 season, his last in the league. And the Lakers have won five more championships since then.

But few NBA teams have endured what the Lakers went through during a strange, dramatic season that ended in Las Vegas, of all places, with a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

On this day in 1992.

On this date in 1992: Trail Blazers clinch playoff series against Lakers — in Las Vegas

By Matt George Moore | May 3, 2018