Blazers crowds know basketball, they appreciate it, they love the home team and that creates one of the great atmospheres in the league.
PORTLAND, ORE.—They’ve done this thing before Trail Blazers games here that’s both neat and symbolic, drawing on the connection between some of the best fans in the NBA.
They grab a ball — not a game ball but one right off the warm-up rack so it’s close enough — and deliver it to the top of the upper deck of the cavernous Moda Center.