yeah, that was so damn frustrating. I remember it well
all season long Adelman had been getting criticized for his 'platoon' substitution pattern. He stuck to it stubbornly. Finally, he abandoned that and went with a more fluid rotation and the result was a 16 game winning streak until he half rested the starters in the final game. And then went 8-3 in the first two playoff series. So, if you discard the regular season final, the Blazers had a 24-3 record after shit-canning the platoon system.
so what does Adelman do in game 1 against the Lakers? If you guessed he went back to the platoon system yo win the prize. He didn't in the 1st half bu he did at the beginning of the 4th Q....and it was a fucking disaster. Blazers started the 4th Q with a 12 point lead, the bench lost it immediately, and Portland gets outscored 31-14 in the 4th Q, lost game 1 and HCA, and never recovered (I looked it up). I never really forgave Adelman for that inexcusable blunder