I remember going to the Paramount Theater in, like, January of '78. The mantra cry at the time was "40-8 by the All-Star break!!" We were playing Chicago and Lionel Hollins led a highly improbable (I mean, like, SUPER improbable) comeback win against the Norm Van Lier Bulls. Following the game....we all went streaming out of the building to the sound horns blaring up and down Broadway. It was
almost as if we'd won the championship! Boy, dem were the days!
50-10....and then it all came crashing down with Walton's injury.
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https://www.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/03/trail_blazers_top_40_no_15_lio.html
In the 1978 season, Hollins twice beat the Bulls in heartbreaking fashion, including playing a key role in what is widely considered the best Blazers comeback ever.
Trailing the Bulls by four points at Memorial Coliseum, Portland scored with 16 seconds left to cut the lead to two and set the stage for Hollins.
After a timeout, Chicago inbounded at halfcourt, where Hall of Famer Norm Van Lier inbounded. Hollins stepped in front of his pass and raced down the court for a dunk to tie the game with seven seconds left. After another inbound at halfcourt, Bobby Gross tipped Van Lier's pass to Dave Twardzik, who fed Hollins for a game-winning layin with two seconds left.
"Besides winning the championship, that game versus Chicago when we came back and won, that is my best memory," Hollins said.
One month later, Chicago thought it exacted revenge at old Chicago Stadium. Leading by one in the final seconds, Blazers guard Johnny Davis had his shot blocked from behind, and the Bulls quickly executed a fast break to go up one with four seconds left. That's when Hollins took an inbounds pass from Corky Calhoun at halfcourt, dribbled three times and took an off-balance shot over the defense of Van Lier.
From 30-feet away, it banked in at the buzzer.
"There were 22,000 people in there, and they were so loud in the timeout that we couldn't hear the play from Jack Ramsay. He had to write the play on the floor in chalk," Hollins said. "But when I hit that shot off the glass to win it ... it just went silent."