Maurice Lucas

Maurice Lucas

No. 20, 25, 33, 23
Power forward
Personal information
Date of birth	February 18, 1952(1952-02-18)
Place of birth	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Date of death	October 31, 2010(2010-10-31) (aged 58)
Place of death	Portland, Oregon
High school	Schenley (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Listed height	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College	Marquette (1971–1974)
NBA Draft	1974 / Round: 1 / Pick: 14th overall
Selected by the Chicago Bulls
Pro career	1974–1988
Career history
1974–1975	Spirits of St. Louis (ABA)
1975–1976	Kentucky Colonels (ABA)
1976–1980	Portland Trail Blazers
1980–1981	New Jersey Nets
1981–1982	New York Knicks
1982–1985	Phoenix Suns
1985–1986	Los Angeles Lakers
1986–1987	Seattle SuperSonics
1987–1988	Portland Trail Blazers
Career highlights and awards
NBA Champion (1977) 5× NBA All-Star (1976–1979, 1983) All-NBA Second Team (1978) NBA All-Defensive First Team (1978) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1979) ABA All-Time Team #20 Retired by the Portland Trail Blazers
Career ABA and NBA statistics
Points	14,857 (14.6 ppg)
Rebounds	9,306 (9.1 rpg)
Assists	2,498 (2.4 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Maurice Lucas (February 18, 1952 – October 31, 2010) was an American professional basketball player.^[1] The first two years of his postcollegiate career were spent in the American Basketball Association (ABA) with the Spirits of St. Louis and Kentucky Colonels. He then played twelve seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knickerbockers, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers and Seattle SuperSonics. The starting power forward on the Trail Blazers' 1976–77 NBA Championship team, he was nicknamed The Enforcer because of his primary role on the court which was best exemplified in Game 2 of the NBA Finals that season.

College

Lucas played college basketball for head coach Al McGuire at Marquette University for two years, leading it to the NCAA championship game in 1974. Although Marquette did not win the title, Lucas played the full 40 minutes of the game, leading his team with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

ABA

In 1973, the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association (ABA) obtained that league's rights to Lucas in the first round of the ABA draft.^[2] In 1974, Lucas was also selected by the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the 14th pick of the NBA draft.^[2] Lucas chose the ABA over the NBA, joining the Spirits of St. Louis team, which had since supplanted the Carolina Cougars in the ABA.^[2][3] During his first season, Lucas averaged 13.2 points per game, and 10 rebounds per game, and he was chosen for the 1974–75 ABA All-Rookie second team.^[2][3][4]

On December 17, 1975, part way through his second season with the Spirits, Lucas was traded to the Kentucky Colonels in exchange for Caldwell Jones.^[2][5] Lucas was an ABA All-Star for the 1975–76 season, and he averaged 17.0 points and 11.3 rebounds per game.^[2] Lucas remained with the Colonels through that team's loss in the semifinals of the 1976 ABA Playoffs to the Denver Nuggets and through the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.^[2][3][4]

NBA

After the ABA-NBA merger, Lucas was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers in the subsequent ABA Dispersal Draft in which the Kentucky Colonels and Spirits of St. Louis players were selected by NBA teams. Portland had traded Geoff Petrie and Steve Hawes to the Atlanta Hawks for the second overall pick, which they used to select Lucas. In the 1976–77 NBA season, Lucas led the Trail Blazers in scoring, minutes played, field goals, free throws, and offensive rebounds. Not only did the team qualify for their first trip to the playoffs that season, but Lucas and teammate Bill Walton led the Trail Blazers past the favored Los Angeles Lakers, sweeping them 4–0 in the Western Conference Finals, and a surprising come-from-behind 4–2 upset victory over the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1977 NBA Finals.

In that NBA Finals series, Lucas asserted his "enforcer" role in Game 2. With the 76ers comfortably ahead late in the game, the Blazers streaked down the floor on a fast break. Lionel Hollins missed the shot, both Bob Gross and Darryl Dawkins went up and wrestled for the rebound, and both came crashing to the floor. As Dawkins ran up court, he threw a punch that largely missed Gross, nailing his own teammate instead. As Dawkins reached mid-court, Lucas greeted him with an elbow to the head, after which they briefly squared off.^[6] Both benches emptied and Dawkins and Lucas were ejected. Although the 76ers would go on to win the game and go up 2–0 in the series, Lucas' actions appeared to alter the momentum of the series in favor of the Blazers. Inspired, Portland won the next two games at home in blowouts, then won at Philadelphia, and closed out the 76ers at home to win the series. Lucas remained with Portland until 1980 when he was traded to the New Jersey Nets.

Lucas next moved through several different teams in several years, playing for the New York Knicks, the Phoenix Suns, the Los Angeles Lakers, helping the Lakers to the Western Conference championship series in the 1986 NBA Playoffs in his only year with that team. Next, Lucas moved to the Seattle SuperSonics for one year, before returning to the Trail Blazers for his final NBA season in 1988.

In his fourteen-year professional basketball career - two in the ABA nd 12 in the NBA - Lucas scored 14,857 points and gathered 9,306 rebounds. He was a five-time All-Star - one in the ABA and four in the NBA. He was named to the 1978 All-NBA-Defense First team, the 1978 All-NBA Second team and the 1979 All-NBA-Defense Second team.

Post-playing career

The Portland Trail Blazers retired his jersey number, 20, in a ceremony on November 4, 1988.^[7] Lucas was hired by the team as an assistant coach under Mike Schuler and Rick Adelman during the 1988–89 season. In 2005, Lucas rejoined the Trail Blazers as an assistant coach under Nate McMillan.^[8]

On August 23, 1997 at the ABA's 30 Year Reunion celebration, Lucas was named to the All-Time All-ABA Team along with Hall of Fame members Julius Erving, Dan Issel, George Gervin, Rick Barry, Connie Hawkins and other ABA greats.^[9]

Current Los Angeles Lakers forward Luke Walton, son of Lucas' Portland teammate and Hall of Famer Bill Walton, is named after him.^[10]

Lucas underwent surgery for bladder cancer in April 2009.^[11] With his health continuing to be a concern, Lucas resigned his coaching position following the 2009–2010 season.^[12]

His son, David Lucas, played for Oregon State University from 2001–2005.^[13]

Lucas died at his home in Portland, Oregon, on October 31, 2010.^[14] Services were also held in his boyhood home town, Pittsburgh, PA. ^[15]

References

1. ^ Heisler, Mark (November 2, 2010). "Maurice Lucas dies at 58; menacing power forward in the NBA". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/02/local/la-me-maurice-lucas-20101102 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Maurice Lucas at DatabaseBasketball.com
3. ^ ^{a b c} Spirits of St. Louis page at RememberTheABA.com
4. ^ ^{a b} Maurice Lucas page at RememberTheABA.com
5. ^ Spirits of St. Louis Detailed Year by Year Notes page at RememberTheABA.com
6. ^ "Lucas vs Dawkins Fight". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lHM6h40Zo. 
7. ^ Khan, David (November 5, 1988). "Blazers Pay Tribute to Prodigal Son". The Oregonian: pp. B07. 
8. ^ Trail Blazers Announce Maurice Lucas to Join McMillan's Coaching Staff, August 1, 2005
9. ^ 30 Year ABA All-Time Team page at RememberTheABA.com
10. ^ "LOS ANGELES LAKERS PLAYERS - Luke Walton". http://www.barrystickets.com/lakers/lakers-players/luke-walton.php. Retrieved June 6, 2009. 
11. ^ "Lucas Undergoes Cancer Surgery". SI.com. April 2, 2009. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/04/02/lucas.ap/index.html. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ Peterson, Ann M. (Jun 25, 2010). "With GM drama finally over, Blazers move on". Associated Press. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hdAKcw14mbIiXvkORM7k2-eYOtBgD9GIGU9G1. Retrieved July 15, 2010. 
13. ^ "David Lucas not exactly a chip off the old block". Oakland Tribune. January 31, 2004. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20040131/ai_n9723596/. ^{[dead link]}
14. ^ Goldstein, Richard (November 1, 2010). "Maurice Lucas, Bruising Forward for Trail Blazers, Dies at 58". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/sports/basketball/01lucas.html?hpw 
15. ^ Barcousky, Len (November 20, 2010). "Maurice Lucas stands tall in mourners' minds". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10324/1104725-53.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml. 

External links

• [1]
• Maurice Lucas Statistics – Basketball-Reference.com
• BLAZERS: Learn More About Maurice Lucas
• Remember the ABA: Maurice Lucas
• Basketball Digest: Maurice Lucas: a storm started by Chocolate Thunder woke up the sleeping Portland Trail Blazers and set them on course for their first and only NBA title – The Game I'll Never Forget
• obit

Persondata
Name	Lucas, Maurice
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 18, 1952
Place of birth	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Date of death	October 31, 2010
Place of death	Portland, Oregon