Rasheed Wallace Recalls Most Brutal Trail Blazers Loss

The four-time All-Star remembers one of the most epic margins of defeat in NBA history.

Jan 23, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Former NBA player Rasheed Wallace watches a game between the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Pittsburgh Panthers in the second half at McCamish Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Former Portland Trail Blazers All-Star stretch four Rasheed Wallace has now finally taken the time to unpack what he considers the team's worst loss during his tenure with that squad.

On February 27, 1998, riding high after a victory over the mighty Chicago Bulls, Wallace's Blazers let their guard down mightily against future Hall of Fame shooting guard Reggie Miller's Indiana Pacers.

First, Wallace recalls how Portland was riding high following a win against the near-unbeatable Chicago Bulls during the "Last Dance" season of their Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen/Dennis Rodman heyday. The Trail Blazers took care of Chicago, in the United Center, on February 25, 1998.

"Here we are, we all hood dudes, we the misfits, ain't nobody give us a chance, but... we had some dogs, we ended up beating them by three or four points in Chicago," Wallace said. "We hyped [and] everything on the plane, we had a couple shots."

The actual margin was five points, 106-101. Across 42:36 of action, Wallace scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field (1-of-1 from deep), and also amassed five rebounds and four assists.

"Get to Indiana, having a good... time. Wake up the next day, in shootaround we're feeling good," Wallace noted. "[We lost the game by] 65. Everybody's making shots. Dale Davis making shots, 12-, 15-footers. Antonio Davis making 12-, 15-footers."

The final margin was a brutal 124-59. Though that aging Bulls team wound up nabbing the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed with a 62-20 record, that Pacers club was younger, deeper, and more athletic. Coached by Larry Bird, that Pacers club went 58-24, finishing with the Eastern Conference's No. 2 overall seed. When Indiana met Chicago in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pacers gave the Bulls all they could reasonably handle, pushing the reigning champs to seven games. It would take some miraculous driving from Jordan and Pippen to will Chicago to its third straight NBA Finals appearance and sixth overall championship since 1991.

That year's Blazers squad, coached by Mike Dunleavy, would finish with a solid 46-36 overall record, and fell to the Shaquille O'Neal- and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers 3-1 in a best-of-five first round series. With Pippen in Portland two years later, the Blazers would suffer what this writer believes to be that squad's worst loss with Wallace, a fourth quarter meltdown in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals to those very Lakers, now coached by ex-Bulls head coach Phil Jackson. The Trail Blazers were up by 15 points, but wound up giving it all back down the stretch.

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