The

1990–91 NBA season The 1990–91 NBA season was the 45th season of the National Basketball Association. The season ended with the Chicago Bulls winning their first NBA Championship, eliminating the Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. This season wo ...

was the 21st season for the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (N ...

in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

. During the off-season, the Trail Blazers acquired

Danny Ainge Daniel Ray Ainge ( ; born March 17, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and professional baseball player who serves as the chief executive officer for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NB ...

from the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

, and later on traded second-year guard

Dražen Petrović Dražen Petrović (; 22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madri ...

to the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

, and acquired former All-Star guard Walter Davis from the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

in a three-team mid-season trade. The Trail Blazers won their first eleven games of the regular season, on their way to a franchise best start at a record of 27–3, and holding a 39–9 record at the All-Star break. The Trail Blazers posted a 16-game winning streak near the end of the season, and finished in first place in the Pacific Division with a league best 63–19 record, setting a franchise-high win total that still stands today, earning the #1 seed in the Western Conference, and made their ninth consecutive trip to the

NBA playoffs The NBA playoffs is the annual Playoffs, postseason Tournament#Knockout tournaments, tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league champion. Since 1949, the four-round, best-of-seven tournament is held afte ...

. It was their first Division title since the 1977–78 season, and ended the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

' streak of nine consecutive years as Pacific Division champions, and number-one seed in the Western Conference.

Clyde Drexler Clyde Austin Drexler (born June 22, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player who currently works as the commissioner of the Big3 3-on-3 basketball league. Nicknamed "Clyde the Glide", he played 15 seasons in the National Bask ...

averaged 21.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game, and was named to the

All-NBA Second Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...

, while

Terry Porter Terry Porter (born April 8, 1963) is an American former college basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at the Portland Pilots, University of Portland ...

averaged 17.0 points, 8.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game, and

Kevin Duckworth Kevin Jerome Duckworth (April 1, 1964 – August 25, 2008) was an American professional basketball player who played as center in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A native of Illinois, he played college basketball for the Eastern Ill ...

provided the team with 15.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. In addition,

Jerome Kersey Jerome Kersey (June 26, 1962 – February 18, 2015) was an American professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Portland Trail Blazers (1984–1995), Golden State Warriors (1995–96), Los Angele ...

contributed 14.8 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, while

Buck Williams Charles Linwood "Buck" Williams (born March 8, 1960) is an American former professional basketball player and former assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers. He was well known for his rebounding ability and trademark goggles. Williams, ...

provided with 11.7 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, and was named to the

NBA All-Defensive First Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in tw ...

. Off the bench, second-year forward Clifford Robinson averaged 11.7 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while Ainge contributed 11.1 points and 3.6 assists per game, Mark Bryant averaged 5.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and Danny Young contributed 3.8 points per game. Drexler, Porter and Duckworth were all selected for the

1991 NBA All-Star Game The 1991 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game between players selected from the National Basketball Association's Western Conference and the Eastern Conference that was played on February 10, 1991, at the Charlotte Coliseum in C ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

, with head coach

Rick Adelman Richard Leonard Adelman (born June 16, 1946) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He coached 23 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Adelman served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Golden S ...

coaching the Western Conference; Drexler also finished in sixth place in

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

voting, and Adelman finished in second place in

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

voting. In the

1991 NBA playoffs The 1991 NBA playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 1990–91 season. The tournament concluded with the Eastern Conference champion Chicago Bulls defeating the Western Conference champion Los Angeles ...

, the Trail Blazers defeated the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

, 3–2 in the Western Conference First Round, then defeated the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

, 4–1 in the Western Conference Semi-finals. However, the Trail Blazers were denied a second straight trip to the

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern and Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league ...

, falling to the 3rd-seeded

Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

in six games in the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers would lose in five games to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in the

1991 NBA Finals The 1991 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 1990–91 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. It was also the first NBA Finals broadcast by NBC after 17 years with CBS. The ...

. Following the season, Davis was released to free agency, and re-signed with his former team, the

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

:y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot :z – clinched division title :y – clinched division title :x – clinched playoff spot

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Playoffs

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Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

W 110–102
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W 115–106
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L 99–102
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Seattle Center Coliseum Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as the Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was ...

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L 89–101
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Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 19 ...

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W 119–107
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Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

W 117–97
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W 118–116
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L 101–107
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Delta Center The Delta Center is an indoor venue in Salt Lake City. Opened in 1991, the arena is the home of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Utah Mammoth of the National Hockey League (NHL). The arena has a seating capacity ...

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W 104–101
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Duckworth Duckworth may refer to: * Duckworth (surname), people with the surname ''Duckworth'' * Duckworth (''DuckTales''), fictional butler from the television series ''DuckTales'' * Duckworth Books Duckworth Books, originally Gerald Duckworth and Co ...

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W 103–96
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Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

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L 106–111
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W 109–98
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L 92–106
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Great Western Forum The Kia Forum, also known as Los Angeles Forum and formerly Great Western Forum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located on West Manchester Boulevard, with Laffit Pincay Jr., P ...

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L 95–116
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W 95–84
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L 90–91
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Player statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Player Statistics Citation:

Awards and honors

NBA All-Star The National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Game is an annual exhibition basketball game. It is the main event of the NBA All-Star Weekend. Traditionally, the All-Star Game featured a conference-based format, featuring a team composed of ...

, NBA All-Star *

, NBA All-Star

Transactions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1990-91 Portland Trail Blazers Season Portland Trail Blazers seasons Portland Trail Blazers 1990 Portland Trail Blazers 1990

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...