Believe it or not, the Portland Trail Blazers were playing basketball two years ago today.
No, it wasn’t NBA Summer League or some meaningless expedition. Portland was playing serious, high-level basketball with postseason implications. Basketball that made Damian Lillard act like a man possessed.
On July 31, 2020, the Blazers played their first game of the bizarre NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida. It was a mighty-entertaining 140-135 overtime win against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The 2019-2020 NBA Restart in Orlando was the league’s answer to the COVID-19 pandemic, coming four months after the season shutdown in March and at a time when no vaccine existed.