Skip to content
Surf Wiki
Save to docs
sports

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers season

NBA professional basketball team season


NBA professional basketball team season

  • KGW
  • Fox Sports Net Northwest (lost to Mavericks 3–4)

The 2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers season was the 33rd season for the Portland Trail Blazers in the National Basketball Association. During the off-season, the Trail Blazers acquired Antonio Daniels from the San Antonio Spurs, and signed free agent Jeff McInnis. Former Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis came out of his retirement, and returned to play for the team after a one-year absence.

The Trail Blazers got off to a mediocre 10–11 start to the regular season, but then posted an 8-game winning streak in December, and held a 32–16 record at the All-Star break. However, the team played around .500 in winning percentage for the remainder of the season, finishing in third place in the Pacific Division with a solid 50–32 record, and earning the sixth seed in the Western Conference; the team also qualified for the NBA playoffs for the 21st consecutive year, and the 26th year of the last 27.

Rasheed Wallace averaged 18.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, and contributed 110 three-point field goals, while Bonzi Wells averaged 15.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game, and Derek Anderson provided the team with 13.9 points and 4.3 assists per game, and also led them with 116 three-point field goals. In addition, Scottie Pippen contributed 10.8 points, 4.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, while second-year forward Zach Randolph provided with 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, and Ruben Patterson contributed 8.3 points per game. Meanwhile, Dale Davis averaged 7.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, Damon Stoudamire played half of the season off the bench, averaging 6.9 points and 3.5 assists per game, Sabonis provided with 6.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and McInnis contributed 5.8 points per game. Head coach Maurice Cheeks finished in tenth place in Coach of the Year voting.

In the Western Conference First Round of the 2003 NBA playoffs, the Trail Blazers faced off against the 3rd–seeded Dallas Mavericks, who were led by the trio of All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki, All-Star guard Steve Nash, and Michael Finley. The Trail Blazers faced elimination after losing the first three games to the Mavericks; the team lost the first two games on the road at the American Airlines Center, before losing Game 3 at home at the Rose Garden Arena, 115–103 as the Mavericks took a 3–0 series lead. Despite the threat of elimination, the Trail Blazers managed to win the next three games, which included a Game 6 win over the Mavericks at the Rose Garden Arena, 125–103 to even the series. However, the Trail Blazers lost Game 7 to the Mavericks at the American Airlines Center, 107–95, thus losing in a hard-fought seven-game series.

As of 2026, the Trail Blazers remained the last team to force a Game 7 after trailing 3–0 in a best-of-seven series, until the 2022–23 Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, and after the 1950–51 New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, and the 1993–94 Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semi-finals; although no team has ever come back to win an NBA playoff series after trailing 3–0. This season would also be the last time that the Trail Blazers qualified for the NBA playoffs until the 2008–09 season, as the team's historic postseason streak would end in the following season with a mediocre 41–41 record. Following the season, Pippen re-signed as a free agent with his former team, the Chicago Bulls, while Daniels signed with the Seattle SuperSonics, and Sabonis retired for the second time.

For the season, the Trail Blazers changed their primary logo, and slightly changed their uniforms. The team's new primary logo only lasted for just one season, while the home jerseys would remain in use until 2017, and the road jerseys would last until 2005, where they replaced the team name "Blazers" with the city name "Portland".

Draft picks

Main article: 2002 NBA draft

RoundPickPlayerPositionNationalitySchool/Club team
121Qyntel WoodsFNE Mississippi CC
243Jason JenningsCArkansas State
251Federico KammerichsFOurense (Spain)

Roster

  • Maurice Cheeks
  • Herb Brown
  • Caldwell Jones
  • Jim Lynam
  • Dan Panaggio
  • Geoff Clark

Regular season

Season standings

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

Game log

Playoffs

|- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 1 | April 19 | @ Dallas | L 86–96 | Rasheed Wallace (26) | Davis, Wells (10) | Scottie Pippen (5) | American Airlines Center 20,336 | 0–1 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 2 | April 23 | @ Dallas | L 99–103 | Bonzi Wells (45) | Dale Davis (15) | Damon Stoudamire (5) | American Airlines Center 20,356 | 0–2 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 3 | April 25 | Dallas | L 103–115 | Ruben Patterson (19) | Zach Randolph (10) | Bonzi Wells (6) | Rose Garden 19,980 | 0–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 4 | April 27 | Dallas | W 98–79 | Zach Randolph (25) | Zach Randolph (15) | Damon Stoudamire (11) | Rose Garden 19,980 | 1–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 5 | April 30 | @ Dallas | W 103–99 | Zach Randolph (22) | Zach Randolph (9) | Bonzi Wells (7) | American Airlines Center 20,438 | 2–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ccffcc" | 6 | May 2 | Dallas | W 125–103 | Zach Randolph (21) | Zach Randolph (10) | McInnis, Wallace (6) | Rose Garden 20,602 | 3–3 |- align="center" bgcolor="#ffcccc" | 7 | May 4 | @ Dallas | L 95–107 | Stoudamire, Wallace (17) | Zach Randolph (10) | Damon Stoudamire (9) | American Airlines Center 20,281

3–4

Player statistics

Regular season

PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
787829.3.541.6337.21.2.7.97.4
781721.2.492.150.6273.41.3.9.48.3
78115.5.476.500.7874.31.8.8.66.1
771116.9.513.000.7584.5.5.5.28.4
767633.6.427.350.8593.54.31.2.213.9
756531.9.441.292.7225.33.31.6.215.2
75117.5.444.171.7461.32.3.3.05.8
747436.3.471.358.7357.42.1.91.018.1
67213.0.452.305.8551.11.3.5.13.7
645829.9.444.286.8184.34.51.6.410.8
592722.3.376.386.7912.63.5.7.16.9
5306.3.500.333.3501.0.2.3.02.4
304.3.250.000.750.0.3.3.01.7
303.7.000.7.0.0.0.0
202.5.000.5.5.5.0.0

Playoffs

PlayerGPGSMPGFG%3P%FT%RPGAPGSPGBPGPPG
7738.3.395.300.6676.93.72.1.419.0
7737.1.454.400.7145.12.6.6.717.4
7633.1.456.484.9525.15.6.9.315.3
7429.3.525.8928.71.6.4.313.9
7022.1.481.000.6903.71.6.6.110.0
7014.1.346.000.7501.72.7.3.13.0
6627.0.583.6548.01.5.8.37.5
6116.3.474.600.5001.32.0.2.23.7
6114.3.667.8004.0.8.7.710.0
4118.8.409.3331.0002.83.3.0.05.8
404.5.333.000.500.5.0.0.01.8
2211.0.250.000.000.5.0.0.01.0
  • † Denotes player spent time with another team in the season. Stats reflect time with the Trail Blazers only.

Player statistics citation:

Transactions

Overview

**Players Added****Players Lost**

Player Transactions Citation:

References

References

  1. [https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/POR/2003.html 2002-03 Portland Trail Blazers]
  2. (August 5, 2002). "Blazers Acquire Daniels from Spurs". United Press International.
  3. (August 6, 2002). "Spurs Trade Daniels to Portland". CBC.
  4. (August 13, 2002). "Blazers Sign G Jeff McInnis". United Press International.
  5. (September 20, 2002). "Arvydas Sabonis Returns to Portland". United Press International.
  6. (October 28, 2002). "WESTERN CONFERENCE: Team-by-Team Preview". The New York Times.
  7. "NBA Games Played on February 6, 2003". Basketball-Reference.
  8. "2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers Schedule and Results". Basketball-Reference.
  9. "Portland Trail Blazers". Basketball-Reference.
  10. "2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers Roster and Stats". Basketball-Reference.
  11. "2002–03 NBA Awards Voting". Basketball-Reference.
  12. (May 3, 2003). "Trail Blazers Continue Comeback, Force Game 7". Los Angeles Times.
  13. (May 3, 2003). "Portland 125, Dallas 103". United Press International.
  14. (May 4, 2003). "Portland Tries to Complete Unprecedented Comeback". Sun Journal.
  15. Crowe, Jerry. (May 5, 2003). "Mavericks Find Touch at the End -- Finally". Los Angeles Times.
  16. Smith, Sam. (May 5, 2003). "Mavericks Wake Up, Win Series". The Washington Post.
  17. "2003 NBA Western Conference First Round: Trail Blazers vs. Mavericks". Basketball-Reference.
  18. (July 21, 2003). "PLUS: PRO BASKETBALL; Pippen and Bulls Back Together Again". The New York Times.
  19. (July 20, 2003). "Pippen Back with the Bulls". Los Angeles Times.
  20. Smith, Sam. (July 20, 2003). "Pippen Not Perfect, But Fit Is". Chicago Tribune.
  21. (July 19, 2003). "Seattle Inks Guard to Multiyear Pact". ESPN.
  22. (July 20, 2003). "Sonics Ink Daniels". United Press International.
  23. "Portland Trail Blazers Logo".
  24. "Portland Trail Blazers Uniform".
  25. "Portland Trail Blazers Uniform".
  26. "2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers Transactions". Basketball-Reference.
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 2002–03 Portland Trail Blazers season — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report