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1981-1982 Team Bio

01/04/10

  1. Written by: trailblazers

    Even though they finished the year at 42-40, two games above .500, the 1981-82 Trail Blazers became the first Portland team to miss the NBA Playoffs in six seasons. While only 12 of the 22 other teams in the league had better records, four of those were in the tough Pacific Division and seven were in the Western Conference.

    The Blazers were adversely affected when Kermit Washington, their rebounding leader the previous two seasons, was hobbled by an ankle injury suffered prior to the start of regular season play. Washington, an NBA All-Defensive team choice the previous two seasons and Portland's leading rebounder and field goal shooter in both campaigns, saw action in only 20 of the team's first 38 games and averaged just 5.0 points and 5.9 rebounds before the gimpy ankle forced his retirement from basketball on January 26.

    Despite the loss of Washington and injuries to other key front-line players for varied lengths of time, the Blazers were still in the hunt for a playoff spot going into the final week of action. After defeating Golden State, 116-106 in overtime to improve to 41-37, Portland dropped three of its last four games and Phoenix took the final spot in the six-team Western Conference playoffs.

    Mychal Thompson was fourth in the league in rebounding (11.7 rpg), fifth highest one season average in club history; Calvin Natt ranked fifth in FG percentage (.576) which was a club record; Kelvin Ransey, who equaled his previous year's team-record 555 assists, was ninth in that category (7.1 apg).
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