Opinion
The term ‘jail blazers’ is remembered by many for being the most crazy, outlawed, talented team in NBA history, and 2003 was the pinnacle of Jail Blazer behaviour.
The team had faced the LA Lakers for the last three years and lost all three times. Every time LA won the championship, the Blazers would grow more and more resentful, leading to more and more obstructive behaviour.
Not long after being swept in the first round, a young Zach Randolph was cited for underage drinking in his hometown. I don’t really think this is a big deal – if you can play as a 6 foot 9 inch bruiser in the paint, you should be able to have a beer afterwards. But it was a good reminder for the Blazers PR team, who are in charge of spinning controversies and burying embarrassing stories, that your work will follow you all around the year in the early 2000s.
Even though Portland were made of an incredibly talented and deep roster that could cause trouble for any team they faced, they were better known for the trouble they committed off the court. With headlines ranging from domestic assault charges from Ruben Patterson to Rasheed Wallace and Damon Stoudamire being stopped for speeding and being found in possession of less than 40 grams of marijuana.
Rasheed Wallace (Icon Sportswire)
Four months later rookie forward Qyntel Woods was cited for speeding and driving without insurance and a drivers licence, and of course marijuana possession. Even Randolph was charged with driving under the influence after a cop smelled marijuana in his car.
Boy, can you imagine what these guys were up to when they were out partying and not just going on a Sunday drive?
I don’t want to make it seem that it was all lows, because there really were some ‘highs’. Sorry, that was too easy, but in all seriousness, this is what happens to a team when Rasheed Wallace is the leader. I always assumed Scottie Pippen just gave up trying to guide the young players after they lost Game 7 in 2000 despite being up 16 to start the fourth and was now just soaking in the last few games of his career. But more on choking in the play-offs later.
Wallace, the all-time leader for technical fouls in a season, was by far the best player on the court every night, but that came with a price. After referee Tim Donaghy – later to be charged with betting on games he officiated – threw a tech Wallace’s way, it was just thought of as another game, another tech for Wallace. Nothing special.
But things would escalate when Wallace happened to see Donaghy leaving the arena through the loading dock. He went after him screaming about the technical foul, raised his arms as if to throw a punch, then laughed and mocked him as he flinched. Several people would intervene, and the big man was suspended for seven games without pay.
But when Rasheed is your leading scorer, sensible players were forced to look up to Bonzi Wells, the second leading scorer and the infamous ‘Kobe stopper’. But Bonzi had served a one-game suspension for spitting on San Antonio’s Danny Ferry. He was fined for making an ‘obscene gesture’ towards a fan in Philadelphia. The next month he was suspended for two games for his part in a post-game brawl with the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
But Bonzi’s most ‘jail blazer’ moment was when he cussed out coach Maurice Cheeks in practice, losing his co-captain title.
By the way, you’re not just reading about the jail blazer era – all of these ‘scandals’ happened in just the 2002-03 season.
Okay, anything else? Yes: Zach Randolph was suspended for two games and fined $100,000 by the team for punching Patterson in the face during training. He broke his eye socket and Randolph was scared Patterson was going to shoot him.
Okay, now that’s it. Shockingly enough, Portland won 50 games and were up against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the play-offs. Like everything else with that season, the series was pretty mind-boggling but underappreciated today. Dallas had won three straight games. Understandably, everyone called it over. Then Portland won three straight games.
With Game 7 in Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki was trying not to be the face of the first team in NBA history to blow a 3-0 lead. But without that go-to guy for the Blazers, they lost 107-95.
This disappointing end would send the great Scottie Pippen heading back to Chicago to retire. He would lead the franchise on a downward path, with only one more year left of the so-called jail blazers.
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