The Vancouver Grizzlies beat the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden 92-80 in their first game as, along with the Toronto Raptors, one of two new NBA expansion teams in Canada.
Benoit Benjamin scored a team-high 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Grizzlies. It was a rare victory for the new basketball team, who were denied a top-five draft pick in their first season under coach Brian Winters and instead went with seven-foot-tall center Bryant “Big Country” Reeves as their first choice, who proved to be an injury-prone disappointment over his career in Vancouver.
The Grizzlies finished last in their division in five of six seasons, never winning more than 30 percent of games in any given year, and relocated to Memphis, Tenn in 2001.
